Kinda Sorta Maybe
by Arouria
Summary: He kinda set her house on fire. She sorta needs a place to stay. Maybe a week under the same roof is a little more then they both can handle… Also, Lucy's 'sick', Natsu's an idiot and they're both not-so-oblivious dorks. You'll enjoy it.
1. Smoke and Problimatic Dragon Boys

**Hello all! Welcome to my newest fic! I actually wasn't going to post this until I had the entire thing finished, but not that I have Dungeons and Dragons on hiatus I had to post something or I was going to go crazy haha**

**This particular fic will probably be anywhere from 5-10 chapters total, so I hope that you'll stick around!**

**I obviously don't own fairy tail because this is a fan fiction site and if I owned any of these guys I probably wouldn't be here**

**enjoy!**

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"Natsu Dragneel." Lucy took a deep breath, desperately trying to keep herself from choking the fire mage right then and there. The look of absolute fear in the dragon slayer's eyes was hard to miss as he nervously managed to look just about everywhere but his teammate's eyes.

"Natsu, would you care to repeat what you just told me? I must not have heard you right." The dragonslayer reluctantly brought his onyx eyes up to the celestial mage's chocolate ones.

_Bad idea._ He thought in absolute terror as he starred into what could only be called a glare straight from the depths of Hell. If looks could kill, he'd be dead a hundred times over already.

"Well Natsu? I'm _waiting_." Lucy spoke in such a sickly sweet tone that Natsu found himself praying that Gray would materialize and sock him unconscious on the spot. However, no such gods smiled down on the young fire mage today, as the whole guild was currently stunned into silence by the intense death-aura their usually calm and collected guild mate was giving off. Even Erza had looked up from her strawberry cake to bare witness to the unusual scene.

Natsu gulped and tried to string words together from under the weight of her chilling stare, "Ikindasortamaybemighthavesetyourhouseonfirepleasedon'tkillme" he rushed out all in one breath, desperately wishing that a hole would open up in the floor beneath him.

Lucy's eye twitched. She slowly wrapped her fists in the dragon slayer's shirt and yanked him down to her eye level, which only made her that much more terrifying. Natsu whimpered at the look of anger in her deep chocolate eyes.

"You." Her fist tightened around his vest.

"Did." Natsu's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates,

"WHAT?" She finally screeched, whatever shred of patience she had left finally shredded,

"I-I kindasortamaybe might have set your house on fire please don't kill me," Natsu clarified shakily, tensing as he braced himself for the inevitable. For a split second, the blonde's eyes went calm as she entered a state of shock.

And then Lucy Heartfilia snapped.

"I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU! YOU DENSE, FIRE BREATHING, PYROMANIACAL _MORON_!" Lucy shook the fire mage so hard he was starting to see stars around the blond mage's head,

"HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A FREAKING IDOT? HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SET _THE WHOLE DAMN HOUSE_ ON FIRE!?" She screeched so loudly her guildmates were sure they'd heard her all the way in Hargeon.

_Deep breaths Lucy, deep breaths._ The celestial mage reminded herself. After a moment she managed to stop shaking the poor boy like a rag doll and the blonde counted to ten in her head a few times. At this point Natsu was so far out of it all he could do was lull his head back and count the pretty stars that danced in and out of his vision.

When the dragonslayer finally decided to re-join the land of the conscious, he snapped his head up groggily, only to find one very peeved Celestial Mage glaring daggers at him, her fists still in his shirt. Lucy let out something of an irritated growl and bonked the fire mage on the head, causing the later to let out a yelp of pain,

"Ouch!" He cried, rubbing the spot, "That hurt!"

"Good!" Lucy snapped back, releasing her grip on the dragon slayer's vest and grabbing the back of his shirt collar. Natsu yelped as the blonde mage began to drag him behind her,

"Lucy wher-" The celestial mage turned and shot him a menacing 'not-a-damn-word-out-of-you' glare, complete with an equally threatening aura to match. Needless to say, the dragon slayer shut his mouth without a second thought.

"I really, can not believe you Natsu Dragneel." Lucy sighed as she glanced around her charred apartment. She stood in the doorway of her once cozy living space, her teammate's collar still in a death grip behind her. She let out another sigh and finally released Natsu's collar from her hand, and he rose sheepishly to stand beside her. He didn't look at her as he bowed his head in shame.

"I'm really sorry Luce, I never meant for this to happen.." He mumbled, still unsure of what kind of mood the blonde was in. The celestial mage glanced at her pink-haired teammate and best friend. His head was down in shame and guilt, and he honestly _did_ look really sorry. Lucy's eyes softened. Of course he wouldn't do something like this on purpose, although he was a dolt and just a total idiot in general, he wouldn't purposely burn down her apparent.

Ok, well, maybe it wasn't totally burnt down. Natsu had definitely made it sound worse then it really was, although the place definitely wasn't in livable condition. Lucy tried making a mental checklist;

The bed? Scorched.  
Carpet? Toast.  
Couch? Medium rare.  
Coffee Table? Salvageable.  
Desk? Mercifully unscathed.  
Bathrom? Usable.  
Closet? Ashes.  
Kitchen? Something out of the seventh ring of Hell.

_Well_, Lucy thought optimistically, _It could be worse.._ The blonde let out a final sigh and bumped the depressed dragon slayer with her shoulder,  
"Hey it's not that bad," she mused. Natsu glanced over at his teamamte, searching for sarcasm or anger in her deep hazel eyes, but they only looked sincere and positive. He managed a small smile at the celestial mage,

"I really _am_ sorry Luce.." He muttered, eyes downcast. The blonde mage just waved him off,

"You're just lucky I have insurance you dolt," she scolded as she walked into the living room, carefully testing the floor and hoping she wouldn't suddenly find herself plummeting down to the first story.

The young mage made her way over to her desk which -by some blessing from the gods above- had been relatively sparred from any burning,scorching,charring,or otherwise descriptive toasting. Lucy ran a delicate hand over the smooth wooden surface, before finally reaching up and resting a finger on a rather large brown box. The spirit mage let out a sigh of relief,

"Well at least this is still here." She let her gaze wonder along the surface of the desk, "The pictures are ok too, how lucky.." Her thoughts began to trail off as her gaze landed on a certain picture frame, her mother's picture was ok as well….

Something brushed silently against her arm, and Lucy just managed to stifle a screech before she realized her fire-breathing partner had come up behind her,

"Natsu! Jeez, you scared me, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?" The pink haired dragon slayer offered something of a sheepish smile,

"Haha, sorry Luce, you were just kinda spacing out over here." Lucy turned her head back to the objects left unscathed on her desk and dropped her hand from it's surface,

"Yeah, sorry, I was just checking to make sure everything was still here," The blonde tossed a smile to her best friend, "Somehow it's completely unscathed.. weird huh?"

Natsu decided to withhold the fact that the whole desk would be ashes by now if he hadn't dragged the damn thing out of her room the second the fire started. _At least I put it back before she came home.._ Instead he offered her a fanged smile and a laugh,

"Yeah, pretty weird alright." The celestial mage cocked an eyebrow at her fire breathing friend, sure he would have more to say, but dropped the thought as she let out a long sigh,

"Now I guess all that's left is to call.. _her_." Just the thought of the crabby old lady was starting to send chills down Lucy's spine.

Natsu gave his teammate a confused look, his head tilted slightly to the side,

"Her?" He echoed. Lucy paled a bit as she bit her lip in response. The blonde mage turned away from her teammate and yanked open one of her desk drawers, which was in total chaos, much to Natsu's surprise.

Lucy began to shovel through the various papers and unidentifiable objects in the drawer, letting out a frustrated sigh at her inability to locate what she needed. After a good minute or two, she let out a soft "Ah!" as she pulled out a small lacrima and what looked like a business card. In swirly, sharp letters, the name Malvinian etched it's way across the surface of the paper. On the back, Natsu could make out a string of numbers in a similar font.

The dragonslayer cocked his head to the side, and Lucy gulped, "My, er..Insurance Agent, I guess.." Lucy stole a glance at her partner,

"It'd be easier if you just watch.." The blonde trailed off before sucking in a breath and dialing the number on the back of the card. After a few seconds, a long, sharp, feminine face with pointy black glasses appeared on the surface of the lacrima. Natsu noted she looked like some sort of combination between a pissed crow and constipated librarian.

The crow lady pushed her thick black glasses up the bridge of her long, curved nose,

"Oh," She said in a scratchy, irritated tone, "It's _you_." Lucy tried her best at a weak smile,

"Hey there Ms. Malvinian, you see I've got a bit of a pro-"

"Oh what have you done now you irritatingly pathetic girl? Destroyed another Cathedral? Demolished a city? I swear you are the most irresponsible, thick-headed, dimwitted, unattractive,-" Lucy's eye twitched and Natsu let out an audible growl.

Only _he_ was allowed to tease Lucy like that! How dare this constipated crow chick insult her like- Lucy interrupted his thoughts as she put up a hand and shook her head slightly in his direction. Natsu reluctantly ceased his growling and folded his arms in a pout.

Lucy glanced back down at the communication lacrima, where her cranky Insurance agent was still sprewing insults at the blonde, "-weak, idiotic, pathetic little girl I've ever met!" A vein popped on Lucy's temple as she desperately tried to keep her cool around her apartment's only hope at restoration.

"Yes, well, you see, I kinda had a house fire.."

"You WHAT?" The woman screeched, "Oh you stupid, stupid girl, what were you doing, playing with matches? Didn't your parents teach you anything? No of course not, even if they did you were probably too dumb to listen."

This time, Natsu couldn't contain himself. Another growl slipped from his lips and her stalked over to Lucy's side, bringing himself into view,

"Hey listen here you cranky old bird lady, it's not even Lucy's fault it's mi-" Natsu was suddenly cut off as Lucy clamped a hand over the dragonslyaer's mouth. Natsu sent the blonde an irritated glare, which she pointedly chose to ignore. Instead, she gave an extremely wide, extremely fake smile at the lady on the other side of the lacrima,

"What he was saying, was that it wasn't _technically_ my fault, one of my kitchen appliances must have caught on fire, you see."

Lucy laughed nervously, still not releasing the hand clamped firmly over the dragonslayer's mouth. _I won't get any insurance money if the witch finds out the fire was started by this moron.._

The crow lady let out a low grunt,

"Whatever, you really are such a useless girl. I'll send over a few people to assess the damage on you pathetic little house, and we'll do what we can." The older woman waved her hand dismissively at the two,

"Just stay out of your house for about a week. Not too hard of a direction, right, you dumb little girl? Do I need to repeat myself for your slow brain to catch on?" Natsu's eyes narrowed dangerously as the celestial mage nodded her head enthusiastically,

"Oh, no no, that's ok, I understand, really! I'll just stay out of my house for a week! Yep, got it, thanks Ms. Malvinian!" Lucy quickly tapped the communication lacrima and the picture of the crabby insurance agent instantly flatlined.

Lucy let out a grand sigh of relief, and somehow managed to forget that her hand was still clamped firmly over her partner's mouth. Natsu, however, had totally not forgotten. The dragonslayer grinned slyly against her palm.

"Eeeik!" Lucy suddenly screeched as she jumped several feet away from her partner, who was now grinning triumphantly at the blonde, "Ew! Natsu, you so did not just do what I think you did!" The fire mage grinned slyly before sticking his tongue out at her,

"Teaches you to cut me off!" He threw back playfully, still grinning. Lucy frowned at him and strode over to the cocky dragonslayer, promptly wiping her damp palm on his jacket,

"I can't believe you _licked_ me you weirdo!" She scrunched up her face in disgust as the pink haired mage proceeded to burst out laughing.

Lucy stuck her nose up at the young fire mage, but couldn't help a small smile at his playful antics. The celestial mage lifted her hands above her in a long stretch, feeling the bones in her back crack satisfyingly,

"Now," She mused, coming back down out of her stretch and balancing in the balls of her feet, "I've just gotta find a place to stay for a week.." At this, Natsu, who was still doubled over laughing next to her, sobered up,

"What're you talking about Luce?" He inquired, a questioning look on his face, "You're staying with me, duh."

At his words, Lucy's eyes widened, "Wha- N-Natsu, are you, uh, sure that's ok?" she managed to stutter out, her mind reeling with questions. Was it really ok? Just them? _I mean, he sleeps over at my house every chance he gets, plus we're teammates… so it should be ok right? But that's still pretty much just the two of us living under the same roof! _

Natsu suddenly interrupted the celestial mage's jumbled train of thought, "Well yeah, duh you're staying with us, it's our fault your house is such a mess, so it's only right you stay with us."

Lucy only heard about half of that, however, as her mind spiraled into overdrive, _Us? Oh yeah! Happy, Happy will be there too, duh. Pull yourself together, Lucy, this is your teammate! Natsu, the most oblivious, dense guy to ever grace the face of the planet. He's just letting you stay at his house because it's his fault yours is a disaster in the first place. Right. Good, yes, that's all, he's just being a good friend,you idiot. Jeez, when did I start overreacting like this? Plus I feel kinda hot, am I sick?_ Lucy blinked as she realized her teammate was waving a concerned hand in front of her face,

"Hello? Earth to Lucy! You there?" Natsu's face was so close to her own their noses were practically touching, and Lucy felt another wave of heat flood to her checks,

"Huh?" The blonde blinked intelligently, still uncomfortable with how unnaturally hot she was,

"You feeln' ok Luce? Your face is all red." Natsu question, worried about the celestial mage's mental state at this point.

The blonde gave her head a good shake to clear all lingering thoughts, "Yeah, I'm ok, just feeling a little…weird." She concluded. Natsu nodded and gave her a cute half smile, _Wait, cute? Did I really just think that?_

"You should probably grab whatever you're taking with you, then." Natsu pulled his face away from hers, and Lucy noticed the weird stab of disappointment in her stomach, _What the heck is wrong with me? It must be all the lingering smoke in here._

"Uh, yeah." Lucy answered distantly as she moved towards her closet door, which, much to her horror, was pretty much non-existent at this point.

Lucy managed to focus herself long enough to gather the clothes that hadn't been turned to ashes, which unfortunately for her, were a slim few. _I'm going to kill that damn pyro, then I'm going to drag his dumb dragon butt out shopping with me._ The blonde mage smirked evilly, but something in her couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of the two of them out shopping together, _This smoke is seriously getting to me, time to bolt_. The celestial mage concluded as she scooped up what was left of her wardrobe: two skirts, a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and some grey shorts she was pretty sure were once white. Lucky for her, she kept her undergarments in her dresser (which was miraculously still in one piece), and not the closet.

While Lucy picked through the rest of her undergarments, Natsu had been sent on a mission to locate a usable bag. After a thorough rummaging of Lucy's closet, the dragonslayer had managed to unearth a bag that was pretty much usable, minus the fact the straps had burned off. After a minute or so, the two dumped their findings on the coffee table, which had escaped with only some scorch marks along the legs. Lucy had managed to salvage a few clothes, along with most of her toiletries and other girly crap that Natsu decided to skip over.

"The bathroom's actually in pretty good shape," Lucy noted, "It seams the fire didn't even reach it." Natsu nodded and twirled her toothbrush between his fingers absentmindedly, his eyes unfocused and his mind suddenly elsewhere.

The celestial mage gave her teammate a puzzled look. It was unlike Natsu to be so quiet and…_deep in thought?_ Lucy's eyes widened. Natsu? Thinking? Oh, something was definitely up. _I know he's a fire dragonslayer and all, but maybe the smoke's getting to him too?_ She wondered as she tried to get her teammate's attention,

"Heeey, earth to Natsu, what's up?" Lucy waved a hand in front of her partner's face, similar to what he'd done to her only moments earlier. Natsu's head snapped up and he offered the celestial mage a sheepish grin,

"Sorry, I sorta spaced out there, why don't we pack all this junk up? I'm pretty sure Happy's gonna strangle me for being late to dinner," The dragonslayer jabbed a thumb towards the window, which let in the waning evening light.

Lucy blinked, when on earth had it gotten so late? The two had arrived at her apartment only a bit after lunch. _Time sure flies, huh.._ The celestial mage thought as she shoved her possessions into the canvas bag Natsu had found. She was just about to grab the bag and head out the door when a pair of larger, callused hands beat her too it,

"I've got it," He said as he shot her a sideways glance, and Lucy felt her body temperature increase again, _Dammit of all the times to get sick!_ The blonde scolded herself as she followed her pink-haired teammate out the door,

"..thanks," She finally managed, and the fire mage tossed a fanged smile back at her,

"No problem, Luce,"

Lucy gulped.

_Oh please Mavis, tell me I'm really just sick…_

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**Thanks for reading, your reviews mean the world to me! Even if it's just a ' :)' or a ' ! ' it still means the world!**

**Thanks again!**

**~Ria**


	2. Cereal and Questionable Candle Scents

**Hello again, I'm back again with a super-fast update to this story (which I can't guarantee will continue to happen haha)** **as I feel like you guys deserved more then one chapter to get this fic up and started :)**

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far! Here's to hoping it'll only get better~**

**enjoy!**

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By the time Lucy got to Natsu's house, her mind was so far in overdrive she wasn't even entirely sure what she was thinking about anymore. Something about Natsu? His house? Her living there… Happy? Fish? Food?

_Yeah.. food, that's what I need right now._ Lucy concluded. Without so much as a wave of acknowledgment to the perky blue-furred cat that greeted her at the door, the celestial mage stalked into her partner's kitchen and flung open the refrigerator. The scene before her made the blonde mage want to shriek. She quickly slammed the door shut and yelled at the boys across the house,

"Natsu, Happy! When was the last time you cleaned out your fridge!?"

A pair of heads, one pink and the other blue, peeked around the kitchen doorframe,

"Ummm.." Natsu started, a hand twisted absently in his hair,

"I can't really remember, Happy?" The fire mage turned to his cat, who was floating a few feet above his head,

"Aye! Hmm, have we ever cleaned the fridge, Natsu?" The dragonslayer snapped his fingers as the memory came back to him,

"I think Luce cleaned it that one time, right?" Natsu glanced at his blonde-haired teammate, who in turn only let out a frustrated sigh,

"I'll add it to my to-do list," the blonde mumbled as she pried open a cabinet to her left, hoping some food would magically appear itself in it's depths.

Luckily for her, the cabinets seamed to be in much better shape then their hideous excuse for a fridge, and Lucy managed to locate a half a loaf of bread and some butter on the table. The blonde collapsed with a sigh at the kitchen table, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Natsu and Happy plop down across from her, curious as to why their teammate was acting so strange,

"Hey Luce," Natsu called out as the celestial mage tore the heal from the loaf of bread,

"Are you sure you're feeling ok? You're acting, uh, a little weird." The fire mage finished, Happy bobbing his head in agreement,

"Yeah Lushi, are you still mad about us burning up your apartment?" The blue exceed questioned lightly, his furry blue head cocked to the side.

Lucy reluctantly glanced up from her bread, only to find Natsu's onyx gaze burning straight into her own. The celestial mage felt her throat dry as that damned heat flushed her face again,

_Dammit all._ The blonde cursed silently,_ I've seriously got to get a grip, _Lucy let out a small cough,

"Yeah, sorry, I guess I'm er, a little out of it. I'm just tired, I'll be ok in the morning." She smiled a bit from across the table and reached out to scratch the blue exceed between the ears,

"And I'm not really mad about the whole house thing anymore, just a little sad that half of my furniture's gone." She gave a sly smile,

"Speaking of," the celestial mage jabbed her bread towards the pink-haired dragonslayer, "_someone_ owes me a trip to the mall."

Natsu winced and silently said his goodbyes to his savings. There was no chance in Hell Lucy was letting him off easy on this one, and he knew it, "Right.. we can go tomorrow, ok?"

Lucy felt a genuine smile play on the corners of her mouth, she was honestly really.. happy? Seriously?_ Why I am __**happy**__ of all things? He's the reason your house is a disaster in the first place! You know he's just going to complain the whole day anyways. I've probably still got smoke in my lungs…?_

At Lucy's smile, Natsu felt that familiar heat flush through him, _What the heck? I've felt… weird since this morning, did Lucy get me sick too?_ He pondered the thought silently, having an internal battle with his thoughts, _Ha, yeah right, Natsu, even you aren't that dense.._ The fire mage let out an internal sigh of defeat as his teammate broke into his thoughts,

"Sweet!" She called, still munching on her bread, "And I'll make you guys food as thanks for letting me stay here, although it's really your faults in the first place," Lucy shot her teammates a glance, to which they both gave nervous laughs.

The trio continued to chat effortlessly as Lucy shuffled through the boys' kitchen cabinets for dinner materials, not daring to open the fridge again. After a good fifteen minute search, she turned up with two boxes of cereal, a cracked bowl, a plastic cup, and something Lucy was pretty sure used to be a vase. The celestial mage set her findings down on the table with a sigh,

"Sorry guys, I'll go shopping tomorrow and make you guys a real dinner," she grinned and shook a box of 'Fire Flakes' in front of her partner, "For now, cereal sound good?"

Natsu cocked an eyebrow at the blonde, "Breakfast for dinner, Luce?" He teased with a grin.

The celestial mage only shrugged, "It's been a long day, and all your food sucks." Lucy picked up the other cereal box and shook them both in the dragonslayer's face, "So which will it be? Fire Flakes or Captain Crunch?"

Natsu rolled his eyes at the celestial mage, "Is that even a question?" He asked, snatching the box of Fire Flakes from the blonde's outstretched hand.

Lucy giggled as he dumped half the box's contents into the vase-ish container, then proceeded to snarf it down in large, undignified spoonfulls.

"Luuushiii, I want fish!" Happy called from besides Natsu, obviously unhappy with both of his non-fish cereal options.

Lucy clicked her fingers together, "Ah! I think I saw some canned tuna in the cupboard, gimme a sec," the blonde mage pushed herself away from the table and returned with a silver can a few moments later, "There's no way in hell I'm tackling that fridge tonight, but how about this?"

The celestial mage dumped the tuna into the cracked bowl and handed it to the blue exceed, who in turn sniffed it skeptically. After a moment the little cat's eyes lit up and he eagerly began to down the shredded fish.

Lucy poured a cupful of Captain Crunch for herself, wisely deciding against 'Fire Flakes', since anything her fire-breathing friend liked probably had some serious spice to it. As she dug in to her own meal, the celestial mage couldn't help but laugh at the fire mage and his cat, who had both managed to snarf down their 'diner' in 0.2 seconds. Natsu leaned back in his chair, patting his stomach contently as Happy collapsed face-up on the table, smacking his lips in satisfaction.

The dragonslayer cracked open an eye to stare at the giggly blonde, "What's so funny?" He questioned, cocking an eyebrow. Lucy just shook her head lightly as she stood to throw her empty cup in the sink,

"Oh nothing, you guys are just so easygoing I guess," Natsu gave her a small grin as he cocked his head to the side, causing his hair to flop cutely over to the side _Again with the cute thing?!_

"You're so weird, Luce."

The celestial mage felt her cheeks heat up _yet again_ and she quickly spun on her heals toward the sink, "Yeah, whatever, you're one to talk" she mumbled as she tossed her cup into the growing pile of dirty dishes within the sink, _Great, one more thing to do._ The blonde thought crossly as she added the mountain of dirty dishes to her to-do list.

The boys watched as Lucy stalked out of the kitchen, mumbling something about weird boys with stupid hair and how 'the smoke must have gotten to her'. The blonde turned the corner towards the bathroom and Natsu assumed she was planning to take a shower.

"Lushi sure is acting strange Natsu, do you think she's sick?" Happy questioned, glancing up at his partner, who's eyes were still glued in the direction the celestial mage had disappeared. At the exceed's words, the dragonslayer snapped his eyes back to the little cat,

"Yeah… maybe." He answered a bit distantly.

"She was saying something about having smoke in her lungs," Happy added.

The fire mage leaned back in his chair, a smug look playing on his face,

"Smoke, hmmm."

Lucy closed her eyes in bliss as the steaming water pounded on her shoulders and dripped down her sides. The blonde massaged some sort of cleansing concoction through her damp hair as she hummed, trying and piece together her hectic day. The whole thing had happened so fast, she hadn't really has the time to sit down and actually process her situation.

_Ok, well, we can start with the fact that my house is in shambles, but it'll be fixed soon according to that demon of an insurance agent…_ Lucy let out a sigh as she suddenly remembered that she'd been skimping out on her insurance policy recently. The policy she paid for would definitely cover some of the cost for restoring her house, but she'd still have to scrape together a nice chunk of the funds herself.

_Great move, Lucy. She scolded herself crossly, 'Buy the cheapest insurance they've got' 'what could possibly happen?' Geez! What was I thinking!? With the disasters that dragonslayer causes on a daily basis, did you really think your house would be out of the line of fire?!_ The blonde let out another long sigh as her mind spun back to the pink-haired boy only a couple rooms away.

"I seriously don't want to think about that right now" She mumbled aloud as she spun the dial on the faucet and stepped nimbly out of the shower. The blonde threw a towel around her damp figure and proceeded to wrap her dripping hair in a similar manor. Lucy glanced around the bathroom for a change of clothes- only to remember she didn't have any.

Oh dammit all.. The celestial mage cursed as she flung open the bathroom door and stalked out into the kitchen,_ I'll just have to borrow something from Natsu._ Lucy thought crossly as she profusely ignored the rising heat in her cheeks.

"Natsuuu," The blonde called as she peeked around the kitchen entrance for her partner, who had seemingly disappeared while she was taking her shower.

"Huh, where did he go?" The young mage muttered as she scanned her surroundings, _Did he go out somewhere? It's late so Happy's probably already asleep…_ Lucy was just about to venture into the living room when every hair on the back of her neck suddenly stiffened as a warm breath hissed past her ear,

"Boo."

It took 0.2 seconds before Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs and made a miraculous lunge to the other side of the room in full-out panic. The blonde gripped her towel for dear life and spun to face her attacker, who was leaning up against the wall in a fit of laughter,

"Natsu!" She realized, "You scared the living daylights out of me! What the heck was that for?!" Lucy screeched as her best friend continued to howl in laughter across from her,

"Oh Luce you should have seen the look on your face! You were all 'Kyaaaa~ Save me!' Ahahaha!"

The blonde steamed, "I totally did not say 'Kya" nor did I say 'Save me!' you jerk!" _At least I really hope I didn't._

"Riiight, sure, if you say so Luce," The dragonslayer grinned at her from across the room, folding his arms smugly as he leaned against the nearest wall.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" The celestial mage screeched at her partner, flailing her hand uselessly in the air as the dragonslayer doubled over in laughter again. Lucy's heart was still going a million miles per hour as she stalked her way over to the giggly fire mage and knocked him hard on the head,

"Ow! What was that for?" He mumbled innocently as he rubbed the sore spot on his head.

"Take a guess," Lucy growled as Natsu stood and grinned at her again,

"Haha, sorry Luce, it was just too great of an opportunity,"

The blonde eyed the pink-haired boy, "A great opportunity to what? Give me a heart attack?"

Natsu's grin only widened as he pressed a finger to his lips, "Secret. By the way Luce, why are you in a towel?"

Lucy blinked a couple of times, completely having forgotten why she had been seeking out her partner in the first place, "Oh yeah, Natsu, do you, uh, have something I could sleep in?"

The blonde asked as she gripped her towel a little tighter, suddenly overly conscious she was standing in front of her teammate in nothing but a bath towel._ Well it's not like we haven't been in this situation before, _The blonde thought pointedly to herself.

The dragonslayer cocked an eyebrow at her and Lucy felt her cheeks flush for the hundredth time that day, _Geez, you're just asking him for clothes! Stop getting so embarrassed. _

"All my pajamas were kinda reduced to ashes, I'll buy some more tomorrow," She added hurriedly in an attempt to save herself from further embarrassment.

"Yeah sure, I'll go grab you something," Natsu tossed over his shoulder as he turned down the hallway towards his dresser. Lucy could hear the muffled sounds of drawers opening and closing as the dragonslayer rummaged through his wardrobe.

"Ah!" She heard as her partner reappeared from around the corner, clothes in hand, "Here," He said as he tossed her a pair of fabric shorts and a plain white t-shirt, "The shorts are actually yours I think, must have gotten mixed up in my stuff on one of our missions or something," He shrugged, "I usually sleep shirtless so that's the best I got in terms of sleepwear,"

Lucy flashed him a smile in return, "Thanks Natsu! I'll, uh, go change now." she said in a hurry as she scampered off towards the bathroom.

Closing the door behind her, Lucy let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, _What the heck is wrong with me, I feel like a caged animal!_ She thought shakily as she inspected her reddening cheeks in the bathroom mirror, _Maybe I'm getting a fever or something.. is that even an effect of inhaling smoke?_ As if on cue the blonde coughed a few times, her throat slightly scratchy, _Well at least I'm not delusional, so there really __**is**__ smoke in my lungs_, she thought as she began to pull the shorts on, _Did I really just have to confirm that with myself? If it wasn't smoke what else could it be?_ A familiar feeling pricked in the back of her mind.

_On second thought, don't answer that_, she chided herself as she reached for the shirt Natsu had lent her.

As she slipped the loose t-shirt over her head, she couldn't help but notice how much it smelled like..well, him. A familiar combination of smoke and a hint of some sort of spice, it was kinda cinnamony._ Wait,_ Lucy's eyes widened in sudden realization, _So, Natsu smells like a candle?_

"Pfftt" The blonde twisted the doorknob and stepped out of the bathroom as she began to giggle, a sound that didn't escape her teammate's hyper-sensitive hearing. Said dragonslayer poked his head into the hallway, only to find his partner about to double over in laughter, _What on earth is wrong with this girl?_ He wondered as she caught sight of him.

"Natsu! Natsu, come here a second," Lucy beckoned the fire mage towards her between fits of giggles, to which the confused dragonslayer skeptically complied.

"Hey Luce what's so funn-" Natsu's breath suddenly hitched as the celestial mage pressed her face into the crook of his neck, taking in a deep and steady breath as she did.

"L-Luce?" He questioned hazily as he felt his whole body tense beneath her touch. With a hand to her mouth she finally pulled away.

"Oh my god," she said, beginning to giggle again, "You really do!" She couldn't take it anymore, Lucy collapsed to the floor in a fit of laughter, leaving one extremely confused, extremely flustered dragonslayer staring down at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Wha-I really do what?" He asked franticly, not really sure what the heck was wrong with his teammate, _Did Happy put something in the water again?_

Lucy managed to catch her breath for a moment as she wiped a tear from her eye, "N-nothing." she managed, still smiling, "Just, did you ever realize you smell like a living candle?"

Natsu gave her a look, "Uh, no?" he said, extending a hand to the blonde on the floor.

"Well you totally do," she grinned as she took the dragonslayer's outstretched hand and hauled herself up.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" He questioned as Lucy straightened, finally having found her composure.

"Well, you could definitely smell worse," she answered as she flashed the pink-haired boy a teasing smile.

"Heyyy," Natsu pouted as the two retreated into the living room, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The blonde bumped her partner's shoulder playfully, "Relax, I'm just messing with you, you actually smell super good, like smoke and spices." It took a moment before Lucy's eyes widened as she realized what she just said, _Did I seriously just say that?_ She thought franticly as she felt her face heat up again, _Seriously fever or whatever, not now!_

Lucy's internal battle went seemingly unnoticed to the pink-haired dragonslayer, who was staring at his teammate with a sort of lopsided grin on his face.

"I love your scent too 'ya know," He hummed as he took a lock of the blonde's hair between his fingers. Every fiber of Lucy's being suddenly froze while her mind blanked out all at once, "Like starlight and wildflowers or somthin'.."

His face was close. Really close. Lucy felt her breath hitch and she could have sworn her heart stopped. For the first time, she noticed just how long his eyelashes were, handsomely framing the edges of his eyes in a way that seamed almost feral. His eyes were half lidded as he stared down at the strands of hair between his fingers, and Lucy noted that his eyes actually had flecks of mossy greens in their deep onyx depths.

The celestial mage could do nothing but stare as Natsu's hand dropped and he pulled away, suddenly aware of what he was doing, "Well um, night Luce," he smiled as he made his way over to his hammock, Happy's soft snores already echoing from within the folds.

"Uh, N-night." Lucy stuttered intelligently, mind still reeling while her heart thudded painfully against her chest. _What the heck was that?!_ The blonde screamed internally as she made her way over to the couch, which the boys had been kind enough to set up as a makeshift bed. Without a second thought she jumped under the covers and buried her burning face into the pillow, just barely suppressing a screech.

The celestial mage put a hand to her chest, desperately willing her heart rate to return to normal, _No no no no no,_ The blonde chanted to herself,_ No. No, absolutely not. No._

She bit her lip as that familiar prick in the back of her mind returned. A feeling she'd long since suppressed, denying it's existence every chance she got. It had always been rather simple: 'There was no way, right?' 'It was probably just mistake.' 'No, it couldn't really be _that_.'

But even after all that, Lucy knew there was a limit to how much you could fool oneself. _Who am I even trying to kid,_ The celestial mage thought wearily as she flipped herself onto her back, her eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling.

_Of all the people, it just had to be that idiot…_ The blonde thought as she closed her eyes with a sigh, a hand still placed over her wildly hammering heart. _That dense, fire-breathing, irrational, kinda passionate, sorta sweet, __**maybe**__ a little attractive, irritatingly oblivious, idiot._ With one last sigh of defeat, she let herself admit what she'd been fearing for all to long now:

_Great. I'm in love with my best friend._

* * *

**ooooo what now, I wonder? Well, let's just say Lucy isn't the only one having a mental breakdown...**

**anyways, I hope you enjoyed chapter two and that you'll continue to read on/review! Reviews mean more then anything to me, I get all warm and fuzzy and tend to screech a little (a lot) whenever I get one ;w;**

**Thanks again! **

**'Till next chap,**

**~Ria**


	3. Love and Omniscient She Demons

**Hello all! I'm back again, with chapter three this time! I would have uploaded it earlier but I was working on my tumblr all day (oops) namely my fairy tail blog, which, incase you where wondering, is (fairlytailed) without the brackets, plus ya know the whole tumblr domain thing.  
**

**ehem. well, enough with the shameless self advertizement... here's your chapter! :)**

* * *

While Lucy Heartfilia was busy having a complete mental breakdown on the couch, the dragonslayer a few feet away from her wasn't fairing much better.

_Way to go, Natsu, excellent move._ He chided himself inwardly, his eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling above him, _Why don't you tell her your in love with her while you're at it? Better yet, just sweep her off her feet and kiss her right there! Yeah! Great plan you dolt._

The dragonslayer couldn't help but let out a growl of frustration as he shoved a random pillow in his face to muffle the undignified sound. This was just so freaking frustrating. He totally did _not_ sign up for this whole love crap. In fact, if he hadn't even realized his feelings for the girl, neither of them would even be in this mess.

_Namely, you burning down her house._ He thought bitterly as he recalled Mira's "advice"- if you could even call it that at this point.

* * *

"_Mira there is something seriously freaky going on around here," Natsu whispered to the white haired bartender. He was the only one at the bar this early in the morning, most of the others were either on missions or enjoying their sleep like normal human beings._

"_What's up Natsu?" Mira indulged him, drying the inside of a mug as she absently listened to the dragonslayer's woes._

"_Something's up with Lucy." He told her, stealing glances around the room as if the Celestial mage would appear out of thin air. At his mention on the blonde haired girl, Mira stopped drying her mug and turned to the fire mage._

"_What about Lucy? Didn't you two just get back from a mission?" She questioned, suddenly interested._

"_Yeah and now she's out on another one with Levy and Wendy, but that's not the point," Natsu continued to whisper, which Mira noted was so very unlike him, even this early in the morning._

"_She's been… different, I guess, ever since our last couple of missions." The pinkett continued as Mira stared intently at the young mage, practically bubbling over the potential gossip._

"_What do you mean Natsu? How has she been different?" Mira squeaked as she practically bounced in anticipation at the dragonslayer's words._

"_I don't really know," The fire mage admitted, "She's just.. different somehow." Natsu closed his eyes as he tried to grasp an explanation for the situation._

"_Like, I've been noticing her scent a lot recently, it's super powerful." He explained after a moment, and Mira cocked an eyebrow._

"_What else?" She pressed, eagerly hoping that the conversation was going where she thought it was going._

"_Well she's really… distracting." He concluded, "Like whenever we're out on a mission together, sometimes I don't hear anything but her voice, or smell anything but her scent." His eyes lit up as Mira eagerly nodded her head, he was on a roll now._

"_Or whenever she's in danger, it feels really weird. Like I have to protect her or something, you know? I mean, I've got to protect anyone who's in danger, but with her it's like I don't even have a choice, I'm moving before I even realize it." He added, ticking things off his fingers as he went._

"_Or sometimes when she bandages my wounds, it tingles wherever she touches, like a weird fluttery feeling. Oh! And whenever she calls my name, my heart beats like I was surprised or something, but I wasn't." He blinked as he remembered one more thing._

"_And I don't like….being away from her, it feels wrong, like we're supposed to be together." He finally finished, looking back to the white haired barista expectantly. Mira was now leaning on the counter, head in her hands with the widest, most devilish smile he'd ever seen plastered across her fair features._

"_So what's wrong with her?" Natsu asked, prompting the older mage for an answer._

_The takeover mage giggled and waved a hand at the worried dragonslayer, "Oh Natsu, there's nothing wrong with Lucy." _

_The fire mage let out a sigh of relief at her words. So Lucy was ok… But something still didn't add up, "If theres nothing wrong with her then what's going on? Somethings definitely up."_

_Mira's smile widened, "Oh yes, something is most defiantly up~" She cooed, leaving the dragonslayer practically on the edge of his seat in anticipation of her answer._

"_You, Natsu Dragneel, love Lucy." The bar maid pointed a finger at the young mage as Natsu's mind blanked out. Sure, the guy was dense, but that didn't mean he didn't get the implications of the white haired mage's words._

_He denied it anyways._

"_Sure I love Lucy, I love everyone in Fairy Tail." He tried, still refusing to acknowledge what the takeover mage had said._

_Mira shook her head at the boy, "No Natsu, I mean you're __**in love**__ with Lucy." _

_Natsu just stared at her._

"_What? No way, Lucy's my best friend, teammate, partner, there's no way." He denied heavily, crossing his arms stubbornly as he added, "What makes you think I'm in love with her?"_

_Mira chuckled as she stood and returned to drying another damp beer mug, "Well you just told me yourself, didn't you?" She hummed as she closed her eyes and waited for the dragonslayer to remember his own words._

"**And I don'****t like****…****.being away from her, it feels wrong, like we****'****re supposed to be together.****" **

"_Well shit.." he muttered under his breath as things finally started to add up. Her scent? It hadn't really changed, it just seamed stronger since he was constantly seeking it out. Her being distracting? More like him being distracted __**by**__ her. All these weird feelings she brought out in him? Side effects. Her safety being his top priority?_

_Well don't you always want to protect… the things that you love?_

"_Oh no way." Natsu sighed as he let his head bang against the countertop, causing Mira to glance at him knowingly. Finally, the boy was starting to get it._

When did this even start? _He began to wonder_. At first, I'm sure she was really just another friend.. right?

_He racked his brain for answers, something he'd never been all that good at outside the battlefield_. But if that's true, then why did I ask her to be my partner? At the time, I was sure it was just because she seamed nice but…

_He didn't particularly like where his train of thought was leading him, but he continued on it anyways._ I mean, Levy's nice. Lisanna's nice. Laki's nice. Cana's nice too when she's not 100% wasted. But in all our time together I never even thought about asking any of them to be my partner…

_He froze. _

Oh don't tell me..

"_I've seriously been in love with her from day one?!" He mumbled into the counter._

_Mira picked up on his words and answered without even glancing at the boy, "Probably." She mused. Oh man was she loving this. __**Finally**__ those two were making some progress on the feelings they oh-so-obviously had for one another. _

Although I have to admit, I was sure Lucy would figure it out first…. _The barista thought to herself._

Well no mater, I can work with this too. _She thought smugly as she began to formulate a plan._

_Natsu lifted his head to glance at the older mage, who had a wild spark in her eyes and the devil's grin on her face. The dragonslayer decided to ignore that._

"_But how come I only realized it now then?" He questioned, not really expecting an answer._

_He got one anyway. _

"_Your dragon instincts are probably sick of you not doing anything about it," Mira chimed in response, enjoying her guild mate's tortured expression way more then she should._

_The dragonslayer stared at her in response. "That's great, now tell me how I can get rid of it." He deadpanned._

_The barmaid instantly spun towards the boy, her eyes glaring so fiercely Natsu gave a little yelp of fright at her sudden change in disposition._

"_There's no 'getting rid of it' Natsu," Mira smiled in such a way that sent chills of fear down his spine._

"_But it's distracting me on missions!" He shot back, not quite ready to throw in the towel._

"_So?" The white-haired mage chided as she returned to her attention to drying glasses. "Just give your instincts what they want and they'll leave you alone."_

"_Well what do they want then?" He asked, already fearing her response._

"_Her." She answered simply._

"_No." Natsu shot back, dead serious. Mira turned to look at the young boy, a little shocked at his outright refusal._

"_Lucy and I are still just friends, me being in love with her isn't going to change that." He clarified, catching the barista's questioning look._

"_Oh, but it could~" Mira purred, her full attention once again on the young dragonslayer._

"_No, it can't." He denied again, eyes cast on the countertop._

"_And what makes you say that?" The white haired mage interrogated, deciding to play along._

"_Because we're __**friends**__ Mira, it would probably make things awkward. Plus, there's no way she's in love with me too."_

_The barista cocked an eyebrow, _Funny that you say that.._ she thought, but decided to answer with another question instead._

"_How could you know if she's in love with you or not?" She shot back, testing the dragonslayer's resolve._

_He rolled his eyes like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world, "Oh please Mira, I know you've heard her go on about her 'type' as much as I have. There's no way I fit into any of that." _

_He went on, feeling like he had to justify himself in some way or another, "Besides, I like being friends with Lucy, I don't see why things have to change."_

_Mira just stared at the boy. His whole approach on the situation was so very… un-Natsu-ish. Usually the pinkett just rushed in to things head first, dealing with the consequences in the aftermath of whatever disaster he caused. In fact, the older mage was sure she was going to have to literally restrain Natsu from sprinting out the guild and confessing his love to Lucy the second he realized his feelings._

_But here he was, sitting in front of her refusing to even acknowledge a chance with the girl he loved. She absolutely could not accept it. She would not accept it._

_And so, Mira hatched a plan._

"_Ok, fine." She told the dragonslayer, pretending to be uninterested in the situation. Natsu eyed her suspiciously, it was unlike Mira to drop things like that. Especially when it came to relationships._

"_But," She said, holding up her dishrag in emphases,"If you just want to be friends with her, we'll have to do something about those instincts of yours." She stated plainly._

_Natsu perked up, "I thought you said there was no getting rid of them?" He questioned, suddenly interested._

_Mira tsked, "Now now, there __**is**__ no getting rid of them," Natsu deflated. "But," She continued, carefully eyeing the fire mage, "You can suppress them."_

"_How?" Natsu demanded, eager to know of anything that would help._

"_Well," The takeover mage pretended to think on it for a second, "Your instincts can be controlled based on the emotional state of the… recipient." She stated for lack of better words. _

_It was total crap of course. How was she supposed to know how dragon instincts worked? She was just lucky Natsu was as dense as he was and that he had no idea how they worked either._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, seriously over all this dancing around the answer._

_The barmaid grinned, "Basically Natsu, if you make Lucy happy, your instincts should cool off for a while."_

_Natsu's eyes widened, "Seriously? That's it? Awesome! What can I do to make her happy?" He pressed excitedly. Who knew it would be that easy?_

_Mira's eyes flashed deviously. Good. He bought it._

_The older mage drummed her fingers against the countertop as if she was pondering something. Finally her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together._

"_Ah! I know, why don't you bake her something? Girls are always happy to have something baked for them. In fact, I have the perfect recipe, riiiiight.. here!" She chattered gleefully as she pulled a cookbook out from underneath the bar and flipped to the desired page._

"_This," She pointed to the picture of a small bowl-like thing within the book._

"_What is it?" Natsu questioned, eager to do whatever it took to suppress his damn instincts or whatever._

"_It's called 'Creme Brûlée', you use fire to make it." She smiled innocently, as if she wasn't about to send the boy to his impending doom._

_The fire mage cracked his knuckles with a grin, "Fire huh? Sounds fun!" He glanced at the older mage, "So can I use the guild's kitchen?"_

"_Oh no no no," Mira chided, shaking a finger at the boy, "Why don't you use Lucy's kitchen? She's got a much nicer oven then we do anyways."_

_Natsu flashed the barmaid a winning smile and snatched the book off the counter, "Thanks Mira! This is totally gonna work, I can feel it!" He chanted as small flames flicked around him in excitement._

"_Of course dear, good luck!" She called, and with that the dragonslayer bolted out of the guild. Happy, who had been napping on a nearby table, noticed his teammates mad dash out the guild doors and quickly flew after him in a daze, wondering what on earth the boy was up too._

_The white haired mage sighed a bit guiltily as the two left. This probably wasn't the __**best**__ way to go about getting the two together, but Mira was confident it would work itself out, somehow. _

I'll just anonymously cover whatever her insurance doesn't. _The happy-go-lucky barmaid reassured herself as she returned to drying dishes, humming as her ingenious plan began to fall into place. Such a silly boy he was, thinking he could just suppress his feelings forever._

"_Oh Natsu, don't you know love doesn't work like that?"_

* * *

That was a day and a half ago.

And Natsu had succeeded in exactly _none_ of his goals since then, which, by the way, had consisted of the following:

• Bake Lucy Creme Bruwhatevritscalled: _Ding ding!_ Failed. _Bonus_: Set her house on fire instead.

• Make Lucy Happy: *insert some of the many colorful words our lovely Celestial mage used while strangling our favorite dragonslayer today here*

• Suppress His 'Instincts': "I love your scent you know" _Bzztz_. Wrong. -10 pts

Furiously Deny He's in Love With Her: 1 Hit KO - game over, you lose. Thank you for playing.

And honestly, he didn't even care anymore. This was _Natsu_, for heaven's sake! He didn't _think_ about his problems, he just dived right in and it all worked itself out in the end, somehow. Plus, hadn't Mira agreed to help him with this whole being in love thing?

His instincts wanted Lucy? Fine. He wanted her too. Maybe they could play nice after all.

_Wait, no. Can't do that. Bad Natsu._ He thought wearily as his eyelids slowly drifted shut. _We're just…friends.. _

He'd had enough of this god damn internal battle for one day, sleep tugged at his mind as his thoughts slowly became less and less clear.

Across the room, Lucy's head had finally decided to stop spinning and her heart had decided to give it a rest too. For the first time since nightfall, she drew even breaths and sleepiness quickly got the better of her.

And so finally, the two drifted off to sleep.

Good. They had a big day ahead of them, after all.

* * *

**That's all for this chapter! The next one will be up sometime soon, I'm not sure exactly when though... heh**

**REVIEWS!**

**x'TotalEclipse'x:** ahhhhhhh thank you thank you thank you ;;;a;;; I'll try and keep updates quick! I'm so happy you liked it ahhhhh

**Robbie:** Thank you sooo much! I don't plan to stop any time soon! :)

**rinwright:** I agree! More you shall have! Mwahaha... ehem. Hehe, thank you so much!

**Scribbles and Such:** Awww, I'm so glad! Hopefully it'll only get better from here hehe

**Blue:** Thank you so much! Updates probably won't be regular, since I'm trying to stagger a little, but hopefully they'll be rather fast! :)

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you'll continue to review!**

**'Till next time,**

**~Ria**


	4. Chaos and Convenient Bake Sales

**Hello there everybody! I'm sorry that there's been quite the delay on this chapter, I've actually had it finished for ages but have been unable to post it.. heh..**

**Anyways, sorry this one is a little short, the next one will be longer! I promise! (because it's already written hehe)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Something hit her head.

Hard.

"Luuuuuussssshhhhhhiiiiiii!" A high pitched voice rang loudly in her ear as the blonde suddenly bolted awake, causing whatever was sitting on her face to slide down into her lap.

"Uwh- Whaa?" She blinked rapidly, trying to rid her head of the thick fog of sleep that still hung there. The celestial mage's eyes finally adjusted to her surroundings as she peered down at her attacker, belly up in her lap.

"Happy..?" She muttered hazily, still not really all there. It was like, what, 7:00 in the morning?

"Aye!" He chirped excitedly as he righted himself in her lap. The little cat just stared up at her with large, innocent eyes.

"What's going on?" Lucy mumbled, still not sure if she should be pissed about being woken up this early or not.

"Let's make breakfast Lushi!" The blue exceed meowed cheerfully, completely unaffected by the blonde's death glare. _What is he doing waking me up this early in the morning! Shouldn't he be at his own hou-_

And then she remembered.

Two things in particular, one right after the other.

First: This was Nastu's house.

Second: All the events of last night. In vivid detail.

Lucy decided to pretend she didn't remember that last one.

"Where's Natsu?" The blonde asked as she scanned the room for the dragonslayer, who was seemingly no where in sight.

"He went out," Happy answered, stretching out his wings to float above her head, his long tail twitching lazily over her.

"Out?" She repeated, a little more awake now, "Out where?"

The blue exceed shrugged, "Dunno. He said he had to talk to someone and for me to wait here for you to wake up."

Lucy glared at the little cat. "So much for _waiting_ for me to wake up.." she mumbled as Happy took off into the kitchen.

"Come on Lushi! I'm hungry!" He called back to her as the blonde pushed the rest of the covers off the couch and groggily swung her legs over the edge. She couldn't help but groan at the thought of actually standing up. It was just so. Dang. Early!

Suddenly something metal sounding clattered to the floor in the kitchen, followed by several more unpleasant shattering sounds.

"Uh.. Lushi.." The blonde heard the Exceed call, a bit of panic in his high-pitched mew.

"Coming.." Lucy sighed as she forced herself off the couch and into whatever disaster the little cat had already caused.

At 7:00 in the morning, no less.

Natsu gave an easy kick to the guild doors, letting them swing open dramatically as he made his way into the wooden building. Few people were actually at the guild this early in the morning. In fact, few people were actually even _awake_ this early in the morning.

Minus of course, the person he came to see.

Mira was in her everyday spot by the bar, absently drying a cup that Natsu was pretty sure had actually been dry for hours, not that he had the guts to say anything about it. The dragonslayer was positive the take-over mage was just as terrifying now as she was as a kid, and boy did he have the scars to prove it.

_Note to self: Don't play pranks on Mira ever again. Ever._

As he began to pace down the corridor towards the bar, he found himself almost running face-first into a shirtless chest. Only one person could be almost butt-naked in the middle of Fall at 7:30 in the morning.

_God dammit._

"Yo, flame-brain, so you actually woke up for once? A shocker considering you sleep like a log," an irritatingly familiar voice rang out cooly before him.

"Waddya want Ice Princess, I'm sorta in a hurry here," Natsu scoffed as he glared at the ice mage blocking his path. Lucy would beat the shit out of him if he didn't make it back out in time to take her _shopping_.

He shivered at the very thought.

Gray narrowed his eyes at his rival, "What didya call me flame for brains? You got a death wish or somethin'?"

The dragonslayer rolled his eyes and once more tried to push past his irritating guildmate, "Yeah right Popsicle Stick, like a death threat means anything comin' from _you_."

"What was that Lizard-breath?" The Ice mage glared daggers at the pink-haired boy as the temperature around the two dropped several degrees.

"Wanna go Snowflake?" Natsu spat as he felt the familiar urge to knock his teammate senseless well up in the pit of his stomach.

The ice mage didn't even answer, and Natsu barely had time to blink as he found himself half-way across the room in the middle of a broken table, courtesy of Gray.

"Oh it's on now, Droopy Eyes!"

"Bring it Squinty!"

—

Three broken tables, six mauled chairs, and a guild riot later, Natsu finally managed to remember why he came to the guild in the first place.

"Oh shit!" he called out as he ducked to avoid another one of Gray's punches. "I forgot I had to talk to Mira!"

"What was that Flame-brain?" Gray called over him, throwing another icy punch, which Natsu just barley managed to dodge.

"I don't got time for this Popsicle-ass!" He yelled as he gave a fiery kick to his rival's abdomen, causing the ice mage to fly right into an enraged Elfman, who was yelling something about a table being a man. Natsu never really got it either, honestly, but he didn't have time for that right now.

Just barley dodging a fourth incoming table, the dragonslayer finally managed to make his way to the bar, where Mira was _still_ drying that same dang cup, totally unaffected by the chaos around her.

The white haired mage caught the dragonslayer's eye as he settled into a seat at the bar, deflecting something that looked like a chair leg while he was at it.

"Natsu!" She called, "It's rare to see you break away from a fight, what's up?"

Natsu just gave her a blank look.

"That's mean, Mira, how could you even ask me that?" He said somewhat childishly as he continued to pout at the older mage.

Mira put a finger to her lips in thought for a moment before her eyes lit up in remembrance. She gave her slim fingers a quick snap, "Ah! This is about you being in love with L-"

The dragonslayer quickly clamped a hand over the barmaid's mouth in horror, "Shhhh! Gray would never let me hear the end of it if he heard you say that!" Natsu's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, "Or _Erza_ for that matter."

"What about me?" A calm but curious voice came from behind the boy, and Natsu nearly fell off his stool as he spun to face the woman.

"Erza!" Natsu squeaked, not even registering that his voice raised an octave or two as he desperately racked his brain for an excuse.

"We, uh, um, Mira was uh… talking and uhhh" The dragonslayer looked like he was about to short-circuit under the red-head's glare, and Mira couldn't help but pity the kid. Plus, she really wanted an update on her little plan, and there's no way the dragonslayer would spill under the terrifying gaze of her ex-rival.

"We were talking about how the bake shop in town was having a sale on cakes." Mira chirped happily at the redhead, and Natsu silently prayed words of thanks to his savior. She'd been planning to tell Erza about the bake sale anyways, might as well use it to her advantage.

"Natsu was just saying that we should let you know, isn't that nice of him?" The white-haired mage cocked her head with a smile, and Natsu suddenly couldn't tell which he was more afraid of: Erza or Mira.

Erza's eyes sparkled and she banged Natsu's head against her armor in an awkward one-sided hug, "Oh Natsu! How kind of you to know how much I love the cakes there!"

The redhead released the boy from her death grip and made a mad dash for the door, knocking out several guild members who were still in the midst of battle on her way out, "Out of my way!" She called, KO-ing an unsuspecting Gray who had mistakenly stumbled into her path after a punch from Elfman.

As Erza made her way through the chaos, Natsu whipped his head back to the eldest take-over mage, shooting her a questioning gaze as he did. Even _he_ knew that Mira was the worst gossip girl in the whole guild, possibly all of Magnolia, so how come she bothered to send Erza away? Natsu though he was going to have to beg her not to tell the redhead.

It's too bad Natsu's an idiot, or he might have figured out she had an ulterior motive. Oh well, to late now.

"Now Natsu," The mage in question coaxed, "Why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"

The dragonslayer barley suppressed a sigh, "Nothing's working." He muttered, his head propped up on a single hand absently.

"What do you mean, Natsu?" The barmaid decided to play innocent, eyeing the pink-haired teen curiously.

This time Natsu really did sigh, "This whole suppressing the instincts thing, they're only getting worse," he groaned as he waved his free hand in the air for emphasis.

"And her living in my house seriously isn't helping.." He added quietly afterwards. Truth be told, having Lucy at his house made him _ecstatic_. Her scent was everywhere; his couch, his clothes, _him_.

But he wasn't quite ready to admit that yet.

Mira barley managed to suppress an ear-splitting grin, so the plan _had_ worked.

"She's at your house?" She asked in a curious tone, determined to squeeze every detail out of the fire mage.

"Of course she is," Natsu cocked an eyebrow at the bar tender, "Where else would she go?"

Uh, let's see, they had seven available rooms at Fairy Hills alone, not even counting all of the girls that would have happily put Lucy up for the week should she ask.

But Mira decided to withhold that little tidbit of information.

"Oh true," The take-over mage giggled innocently, avoiding eye-contact with the pink-haired mage.

"So if you say that it's not working, something must have happened, right?" She pushed, eager for the details of the dragonslayer's story.

"Kinda," Natsu mumbled, still trying to decide if Mira was actually trustworthy in these situations or not. He had honestly come to see if she had any more 'suppressing the instincts' ideas, but he was getting skeptical on how she actually knew anything about dragon instincts anyway. Plus, this was _Mira_ they were talking about, Gossip Queen of Fiore. She did send Erza away once, but twice? He wasn't so sure.

He decided to try asking her anyways, "I actually came to ask you if you had any ideas on how to-" Natsu stopped mid sentence, his eyes landing on the guild clock just behind the white haired barmaid.

_10:00_

He shot up, his stool clattering to the floor behind him. "Shit!" He exclaimed, suddenly panicked, "Lucy's gonna kill me if I don't take her out today!"

"Natsu?" Mira called out, a bit taken back at the dragonslayer's sudden burst of energy, "What do you mean 'take her out'?"

But the fire mage was already halfway through the guild doors when she called out to him, "Sorry Mira we'll talk some other time!" He called over his shoulder as he made a race for the forest.

In his panic, he'd failed to notice the mage who sat silently at the other end of the bar, an entire half-eaten strawberry cake in front of her.

Mira glanced knowingly at the ex-quip mage. "Erza, how long have you been there?" She inquired calmly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Long enough," The redhead replied, a similar smile gracing her own features. "Men in love are quite strange indeed," She added around another mouthful of cake as the bar maid began to giggle.

"Tell me about it!"

* * *

Wow, there are so many wonderful reviews last chapter! Thank you so much for your continued support and I'm so glad you are all enjoying the story! :)

Reviews:

**rinwright:** Well she didn't used to be called a demon for nothing! I guess you don't really grow out of it after all ;3

**FanFictionLeon:** Ahhh I'm so glad you like it so far! It means the world that you think so! As for Natsu, he's such an impulsive, unpredicable fellow, I think the real question here is what_ won't_ he do xD

**Nora:** Thank you for the review! I'll try and update as often as possible, I'm very much enjoying writing this story! ^^

**Maelstrom Alert:** AAAHH THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU'RE AMAZING TOO!

** : **Thank you so much! I'm so happy that you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you will only continue to enjoy it as it progresses! :)

**RosesAndRavens:** Hmmm, who knows? You can just never really know with these guys xD

**Blue:** Yay! I'm so happy that you enjoy them so much! And thank you so much as well 3

**gwb620: **Yes she is indeed quite devious, I must agree xD My guess is that her deviousness will only get worse as time goes on..

**Et Bellator:** Hehe thanks so much! I'm so glad you think so 3

**luvcactus:** /blushes/ wow thank you so much for such a kind compliment! There are so many wonderful stories on here, I'm honored that you think that! 3

**Melody233:** Aww thank you! I'm so happy that you love it so much 33

**sin84:** Mira terrifies me as well, to be totally honest.. matchmaker soul probably scares me more lol I'm so glad you like the story and it means the world that you'll continue to follow! :)

**SnowAngelSlayerTasha: **Daww I'm so happy that you think so! Hopefully it will only get better from here hehe

**FlamingGinger06:** Apparently not.. Well, Natsu has never been the one to catch on fastest, poor thing xD Thank you so much for your review!

(p.s. if there's a random 3 after your reply it was probably supposed to be a heart lol)

Thank you all so so much for your reviews! They mean the world to me and hearing your comments inspires me to keep writing :) I adore you all and I hope that you'll continue to read and review my little story!

~Ria


	5. Dates and Suspicious Omelet Contents

**Hello once again all! I'm so terribly sorry for the delay on this chapter, thank you so much for waiting so patiently! The next chapter's release will be much faster, this I can promise! I have a 12 hour plane flight coming up and what better way to spend a horridly long and boring plane ride then writing? So yes, not as big of a delay next time hehe**

**And so, here's your chapter everyone!**

* * *

"He was supposed to be here half an hour ago though," Lucy pouted as she cracked another egg into her pan, poking it lightly with her spatula as it hissed against the sizzling metal surface.

"Aye! I'm sure he just got in a fight or something, he'll probably be back soon." Happy announced from above her, watching as the celestial mage dipped the frying pan this way and that over the burning stove, causing it's contents to hiss against the hot surface.

"That would be typical of him, wouldn't it?" The blonde sighed as she continued to throw various spices on top of her breakfast creation. She was at the point where she assumed the boy just lived off of anything with a kick to it. So, she raided the spice cabinet (which she had _so kindly_ just finished organizing she may add) and dumped everything without a "mild" label on it into the frying pan, trying not to sneeze as all the smells hit her nose at once.

Despite having been woken up way earlier then she would have liked to admit, Lucy had defiantly made the best of her time. The cabinets were organized, the dishes were clean, and she'd finally found the resolve to deal with that dreaded fridge. And by 'deal', she meant she'd basically plugged her nose and shoved every damn thing in there into the trash.

The blonde smiled quietly to herself as she dumped the omelet onto a waiting plastic plate, alongside the other two she'd whipped up only moments earlier. Lucy was practically drooling by the time the last omelet was finished, the smell of melted cheese and mushrooms drifting though the air had her stomach practically roaring in hunger.

Of course, there was Happy's raw fish omelet and whatever the heck Natsu's was made out of (she made it and even she didn't know) which didn't smell anywhere near as appetizing, but hey, as long as she wasn't eating it.

Happy chose then to land contently on the blonde's head, eyeing her finished breakfast, "Nay Nay Lushi, can we eat them now? I'm sooo hungry!" The little cat whined from his perch in the celestial mage's messy blonde hair.

Lucy blew at the bangs that the little cat had caused to fall in her face.

"Not yet Happy," She chided, picking the Exceed off her head and guiding him to her shoulder instead.

"We've got to wait for Natsu, remember? Hopefully he'll get here before it gets cold." Lucy gently reminded the little blue cat, who looked thoroughly unimpressed with his partner's absence.

Happy huffed in irritation. Of course he loved his pink haired best friend, but he was keeping him from his precious fish! That was a grade A offense in his book, "If he doesn't get here soon I'm gonna-"

"LUUUCCCCYYYYYYY"

A loud voice suddenly cut off the little cat as Natsu came barreling through the door, _literally_. As in, _he tripped on the doorframe and spun all the way right smack into the coffee table._

Ignoring the pain his collision with the wooden appliance had caused, he bolted to his feet and brought his attention towards the kitchen.

Happy and Lucy stared wordlessly at their partner, who at this point looked like he'd been possessed by some sort of demon, his hair a tussled mess and his onyx eyes wide. If she wasn't so shocked at the moment, Lucy would probably have doubled over laughing at the sight.

Natsu, on the other hand, was trying _very_ hard not to stare at his resident Celestial mage. She'd changed since this morning, and was now donned not only in another one of _his_ t-shirts, but some _very _tight itty-bitty little shorts to match. Her light blonde hair was a wild un-combed mess against her shoulders, and Natsu felt his resolve falter as unwelcome thoughts suddenly invaded his head.

Thoughts like, _I sure wouldn't mind waking up to __**that**__ every day._

Followed by: _God __**dammit**__ Natsu, get a freakin' grip._

Suddenly a voice rang out against his thoughts, "Uh, Natsu, you ok over there?" Lucy questioned hesitantly, a look of confusion mixed with amusement dancing in her hazel eyes.

"Huh?" Natsu managed, quickly dragging his thoughts out of the gutter and back into reality.

The blonde gave a quick 'pft' of laughter, a small smile curving against the corners of her mouth, "Well you know, you just kinda burst through the door screaming my name and then froze on the spot like you'd gotten a bad glare from Ever."

Natsu straightened himself slightly in attempt to not look like a total madman, which, by the way, he was failing pretty miserably at.

"Wait- wha? You mean you're not mad at me?" He questioned as he carefully made his way over to the Celestial mage, Happy's tail twitching in amusement from his spot on Lucy's shoulder.

Lucy sent him a look as she turned back towards the omelets on the counter, carefully taking the three plates into her hands, expertly balancing the third on her forearm.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Lucy questioned the boy, who had finally made his way into the kitchen to stand by the diner table, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Was she really not mad at him? Or was this one of those complicated girl things Cana had tried to explain to him? Something about saying the opposite of what they meant?

His head was starting to hurt. And not just from his glorious collision with the coffee table.

"But I was supposed to take you _shopping_, right?" He tried not to whine the word out, he really did, but _ugh_, come on, it's _**shopping**_. With _**Lucy Heartfilia**_.

Lucy blinked once, trying to process what exactly the young fire mage was talking about.

Finally everything clicked through the mid-morning haze in her mind, and the Celestial mage almost dropped the plates she was holding in the fit of wild laughter that followed.

"Natsu you dope," She managed through airy bursts of giggles, "It's like _10:30_, we can go shopping later. Just come get breakfast- er, brunch I guess? Whatever.- before it get's any colder the it already is."

The blonde expertly shuffled the plates of food onto the kitchen table and slid into one of the nearby creaky wooden chairs. Happy bounded excitedly from the blonde's shoulder, his stomach growling excitedly at thought of _finally_ being able to eat his breakfast.

Skeptically, the boy scooted himself into the chair across from the blonde mage, who had gone ahead and began digging into her food without him. Next to her, Happy was purring in satisfaction as he downed his own breakfast- or was it brunch now? Oh whatever.

He glanced down at the plate in front of him and instantly his own mouth began to water. Man did this thing look awesome! Plus it smelled _great_, what on earth had Lucy put in there?

The dragonslayer didn't need any more convincing then that, without further hesitation, he dove into the tasty smelling creation.

Lucy stole a glance at the boy over her fork, barley surprising an amused giggle as she watched the dragonslayer eagerly devour his meal, _Leave it to Natsu to go from psychotic madman to hungry teenager in ten seconds flat._

The blonde took a final bite of her omelet and pushed the plate away from her. She propped her head up against her palm, gazing lazily at the pinkette and his little blue cat as they smacked their lips in satisfaction, their plates already licked clean of any evidence of food.

She blinked slowly as she continued to stare at her partners, the fatigue of last night's restless sleep returning to cloud her thoughts as her mind began to wonder.

_This is… actually nice._ She thought absently as Happy began to tell Natsu about how he'd woken Lucy up at the crack of dawn and how she'd refused to make him breakfast until he helped her clean the house.

The blonde's gaze silently switched to Natsu, who was laughing whole heartily about how Happy had been powerless against Lucy's cranky it's-to-dang-early-to-be-alive attitude. She felt her face soften as she took in his sharp features. How his dark angled eyes always glowed with raw and unfiltered emotion, both lighthearted and serious. How his hair, though seemingly stiff and spiky, moved softly with his demeanor, framing his face in a way that gave off some strangely appealing combination between rowdy teenager and feral predator.

Her eyes hazily fell down his face, the smile playing against his features sharp and angular, just like the rest of him. Yet his lips looked strangely soft at the same time, she noticed. The way his smile was always unclouded and genuine, those fangs that should be intimidating but only added to his charm. She felt the intense need taste that smile them well up in the pit of her stomach.

_I wonder what it would be like to-_

Her hand slipped.

_**BANG!**_

"Lucy?" Natsu called from across the table, his eyebrow quirked in confusion, "You ok over there?"

"Uggh, Ouch.." The blonde muttered as she lifted her head off the wooden table, slowly rubbing the spot on her forehead where her face had smacked into the dinner table. _That's what you get for sticking your head in the gutter, Lucy._ She thought bitterly as she returned her attention to her teammates.

"Oh, uh, yeah I'm fine." She muttered, a hand still over the spot on her forehead. The dragonslayer shot her a look, one that she read as, _'What's wrong with this weirdo?' . _The blonde straightened her posture in a weak attempt to redeem herself, her face reddening in embarrassment.

"I was just uh-" _Daydreaming about you._ "-drifting off." She rushed, her eyes anywhere but the dragonslayer infront of her.

Natsu scowled in suspicion, " 'Ya sick or somethin' Luce?"

"Oh um no, no I'm not sick!"_ Lovesick, maybe._

She laughed awkwardly before suddenly springing to her feet, making her teammates jump in surprise. She seriously needed a distraction, and fast. Staying in this house was doing weird things to her head, and she knew it would only be downhill from here.

The blonde snapped her fingers in remembrance, a sly smile winding it's way onto her lips, "In fact, now that we've eaten, it's the perfect time to go _shopping!_"

Natsu's eyes widened in horror as Lucy stalked over and made a grab for his scarf, "Well, what are you waiting for, time to go!" The blonde practically sang as she began dragging the terrified dragonslayer out the front door, a slightly confused Exceed following quickly behind.

Natsu let out a whine as Lucy continued to drag the boy down the pathway from his house, "But Luuuccyyyy, you said we could go later!"

The blonde didn't dare turn to face him out of fear he'd catch the nice shade of red dusted across her cheekbones, "Yes, and later is now, which is why we're leaving."

Lucy heard a sigh of defeat from behind her, and suddenly the dragonslayer began to wriggle in her grasp, "Ok, ok, we can go _shopping_, just lemme up!"

The blonde relinquished her grasp on the boy's scarf as he fell back with a soft _thump_. "Hey! What was that for?" Natsu pouted as Lucy finally turned to look at him, a soft giggle finding it's way from her lips, "Heh, oops, sorry?" She batted her eyelashes at him innocently for effect. _It's your fault I'm such a freaking lovesick __mess__ anyways. Just accept your punishment like a good boy._

Natsu huffed as he rose to stand beside her, absently rubbing the spot on the back of his head where she'd dropped him. "Yeah yeah, whatever, let's just go and get this over with." He muttered as Happy finally managed to catch up with them, his long blue tail twitching just above the duo's heads.

"You know Natsu," The little Exceed chirped as the trio continued their way down the mountain, "Shopping's not really as bad as you make it out to be."

The pinkette whipped his head towards his furry friend in shock, "Eh!? No way, Happy not you too!"

Lucy elbowed the dragonslayer lightly in agreement, "He's right you know!" She smiled as she gazed happily at the treeline. "It can actually be lots of fun!"

Natsu snorted, obviously unconvinced, "Well of course it's fun for you, you're a girl!"

Lucy shook her head and clicked her tongue lightly at the boy, "It doesn't have anything to do with being a boy or a girl!"

She turned to face him, and Natsu had to remind himself that_ he wasn't bothered by how close she was_ because _sane people don't get worked up by stupid little things like that._

"I'll show you!" The Celestial mage resolved as she turned away from him, her hazel eyes sparkling with determination. Natsu let out a mental sigh of relief.

"I've been on lot's of shopping dates before, and they've always been fun." She went on, her eyes on the path infront of her.

Natsu's mouth twitched silently in annoyance at the thought, before he quickly reminded himself that _it didn't matter that she went on dates with lots of guys, _because_ you're not supposed to care about stuff like that. _

But apparently, his heart and his mouth were teaming up against him, because his next words were out before he could stop himself.

"Oh? So this is a date then?" _Oopsies, oh well._

He leaned his head back cheekily as he watched the blonde sputter in amusement. He also pointedly chose to ignore Happy's shrill of 'Ooooh, she liiiiiiiikes him!' as the little exceed spun excitedly over their heads.

Lucy felt her heart jam against her throat as she flushed a color akin to Erza's hair, "W-what? O-of course not! I was just saying that going s-shopping could be fun, where did you get that from!? Do you even know what a date _is_, Natsu?!"

Natsu scoffed at her, "Duh, 'course I know what a date is dummy." _You're digging your own grave here Natsu, you dumbass._

Suddenly Lucy gave him a deadpanned look, cursing the fact that she'd let herself get so worked up, because this was _Natsu_ for Mavis's sake.

"I'm not talking about the food, Natsu," She sighed, desperately trying to reduce the shade of red that dusted her cheeks.

"You're not?" The dragonslayer cocked his head slightly in mock confusion. _Nice save, Natsu!_

_Finally your dense reputation gets you somewhere! _

He turned his head to his partner, who honestly looked more depressed then anything. She angled her head towards him and let out a sigh, "It doesn't matter, we're almost off the mountain anyways."

Natsu instantly felt his determination falter as he caught her gaze, _Hey wait, Lucy, don't look at me like that, now I want to take it back. You're making me wish I'd told you this __**was**__ a date, dammit! That ain't fair!_

Lucy gave her head a quick shake to clear her thoughts. She _really_ needed to get a grip. Just because she'd accepted her feelings for the boy didn't mean anything was going to _happen_ between them. This is freakin' _Natsu _we're talking about here! He wouldn't know romance if it hit him in the face with a brick.

_Knowing him, _she deadpanned to herself, _If romance hit him in the face with a brick, he'd probably beat it up._

The blonde couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the thought, "Yep," She whispered to herself in amusement, "that's totally something he would do."

"Who'd do what?" Hot breath suddenly fanned against her ear, and Lucy just barley suppressed a screech as she turned to find Natsu's face only inches from her own. The blonde instantly sprang sideways as she placed a hand over her wildly hammering heart in attempt to get her pulse to return to normal, _Damn him and his stupid dragon hearing! _

"Jeez Natsu don't sneak up on me like that!" She chided as she lowered her hand from her chest, praying that her face wasn't as red as she thought it was.

The dragonslayer just crossed his arms besides her, peering at the blonde somewhat curiously, "I just wanted to know why you were talking to yourself,"

Now Lucy was _sure_ she was blushing, "I wasn't talking to myself!" She defended quickly, arms crossing in a pout.

"You were totally talking to yourself, I heard you." He gave a sly smile and threw his hands back behind his head, " 'Ya know Luce, I hear that talking to yourself only happens in extreme cases of weirdness. Happy, do 'ya think it's possible Lucy's gotten even weirder then before?"

"Hmmm," The little blue cat pondered in total seriousness, "That would be pretty hard, Lushi was already reeeeeaally high up on the Weirdo Scale to begin with, remember? An S Class Weirdo!"

"That's not even a real thing!" The blonde cried in protest, her arms flailing as her partners put on a pair of satisfied smirks.

"Oh it's very real!" Natsu explained as his blonde teammate glared at him in half-hearted annoyance.

"Well even if it _is_ real, then you two would definitely be higher up then I am!" The Celestial mage shot back as she shook a finger between her teammates.

The duo let out a gasp of shock at the accusation, and Lucy thought that maybe she'd actually gotten through to them for once.

"Not a chance." To two chimed in unison as they waved a hand infront of their faces. Lucy gave a sigh of defeat. She had about as good of a chance getting through to those two as she did winning a one-on-one with Erza.

"Ahh, whatever!" She threw up her hands in defeat, but Natsu didn't miss the slight upward curve of her lips as she turned her face back towards the pathway. He gave a slight smile at the thought.

_You're so pretty when you're smiling, Luce, and I won't even regret thinking that._

* * *

**Thank you all so much for continuing to read my little tale here, and I sincerely hope you decide to review and tell me what you loved/hated/ex about it! It truly means the world to me, and the more reviews I get, the more inclined I am to keep writing and posting updates faster! Truly, thank you!**

**Reviews:**

**PhantomPierce-Okamoto:** I'm so happy that you liked the chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one as well and that I'll continue to see you around! :)

**RosesAndRavens:** Thanks so much for all the awesome ideas! I'm planing to do something similar to one of those suggestions, but I won't tell you which one just quite yet, it's a secret! ;) Thanks again for your continued support!

**EgyptianSoul.88:** Yay! I'm so glad that you like the story so far! I think Natsu and Lucy are adorable too, who could resist those dorks? xD

**Melody233:** I couldn't agree more haha! Natsu's an idiot, but a lovable one at that xD Thank you so much for your support and I hope you liked this chapter as well :)

**FanFictionLeon:** Thank you so much for the review and nice compliment! It warms my heart to see you continued support and I hope you'll continue to read on and see how it goes! :)

**WhiteWinterStar:** /blushes/ I'm so glad you like it so much! I'm also really happy that you like the plot so far, it's really nice to hear such positive feedback! I'll try keep updates even more frequent so we can continue to please that inner fangirl of yours! ;)

**obssessedwithnalu:** Awww I'm so glad you think so! Haha yes I'm definitely having fun playing around with character features/scents/ex, I'm really happy that you like how I've described those things so far! The Erza scene is actually one of my favorites too, it just seams like such an Erza thing to do xD

**xxRylxx:** Sure thing! I'm gonna try and crank out multiple chapters this next week so we can have even quicker updates, I hope that you'll look forward to them! :)** :** I'm so glad that you do! I find their personalities quite fun as well xD Thank you so much for your review and I hope you're still enjoying the story!

**MiriFlower27:** Yay! I'm so glad that you like it that much! I'm really happy you like our little awkward Natsu and sneaky Mira as well! I'm quite fond of them too xD Thanks so much for the review, and I'll try and keep updates quicker from here on out!

**bluerainst0rm:** "Blue" is the guest user who reviewed earlier, so if that was you, then yes! Ah yes, our shipper Mira, I simply adore her xD My soul connects to her inner fangirl, she's great haha! I'm so happy that you like the story so far and I hope you decide to continue reading/reviewing! :D

**Thank you all so much for your continued support and reviews! Your words mean the world to me and I'm so happy to have so many awesome readers! :D**

**'Till next chapter!**  
**~Ria**


	6. Terror and Various Firey Things

**Hello all! I have risen from the dead! (not) I think I need to stop making those 'It'll be done reeeally soon!' promises in each chapter because apparently I _suck_ at keeping them. I'd ask you to forgive me but I don't really deserve it OTL**

**Er, anywho, a chapter to you, from me. Please don't strangle me.**

* * *

"Finally! Town!" Lucy cheered as she clapped her hands together excitedly, "It felt like we'd been in that carriage forever!"

"Aye sir!" Happy's high pitched voice rang out as he flew excitedly in tight circles besides her, "Nay nay Lushi, can we get some ice cream later? I want fish flavor!"

"Hmm, I'm not sure if they even sell fish flavored ice cream.. but I'm sure we'll figure something out! Right Natsu?" The blonde turned her hazel gaze to her partner, "Natsu?"

"Uuuuuuggggghhhhhh," The dragonslayer swayed unsteadily beside the blonde, still not recovered from the whole 'Being in a moving vehicle for half an hour' thing.

"Tell me," He croaked, placing a hand on his teammate's shoulder as he stumbled closer, "Why… we had to.. shop, all the way out here?" He managed as some of the color slowly began to return to his face.

"Because," Lucy stated simply, "There aren't any malls in Magnolia, which is why we came to the shopping district."

The dragonslayer straightened himself, the effects of finally being back on solid ground beginning to sink in. He huffed, still a little dizzy, "It was only half an hour by carriage! We could have walked that in two hours easy!"

"It's already noon," The blonde stated as she shrugged the now almost-fully-recovered dragonslayer's hand off her shoulder." We only have today, so no time to waste!" She sent a sly glance back at her friend, "Unless, oh, I dunno, you want to come again tomorrow too?"

Natsu instantly snapped into full recovery mode, "Haha shoulda just said so earlier Luce! What are we waiting here for then?!" The dragonslayer quickly grabbed her wrist and began to drag the girl along with him towards the bustling town, Happy floating excitedly along with them.

Lucy felt her heart leap against her ribcage as Natsu's calloused fingertips curled around her slender wrist, sending what felt like tingling jolts of electricity skyrocketing up her forearm. She unconsciously bit her lip as she let the fire mage lead her deeper into the center of town, her entire being focused solely on the feel of her skin beneath his.

_Mavis, I have it bad. _The blonde mentally bit out as she turned her head roughly to the side, inspecting the venders they passed in attempt to distract herself from the humming electric currents that tingled down her arm.

Suddenly her eyes landed on a store that looked something to her tastes, pink and buzzing with a sort of feminine vibe. She turned to tell Natsu she wanted to stop, eyes widening as she realized her was already a step ahead of her.

_Powmf_.

She collided head on into the dragonslayer's muscular back, nose taking most of the blow from the boy's sudden stop.

"Ow!" The blonde groaned, carefully holding her sore nose with her free hand -the other still being firmly in Natsu's grasp- and glaring daggers into the back of her teammate's shirt.

"What did you stop like that for!? Natsu!" The blonde demanded, growing ever impatient when the dragonslayer in question refused to turn around.

"Hey, Natsu, at least look at me when I yell at you!" she exclaimed, making a grab for the fire mage's shoulder, forcibly turning him to face her.

His onyx-green eyes were wide with fear, and they instantly locked with hers, his face a shade paler then normal.

"We have to run." He deadpanned, tone deadly serious. He looked nervous, horrified in fact. There was only one other person in all of Fiore -besides herself on a bad day- that brought out that look in Natsu Dragneel.

Lucy's eyes widened slightly and she peered carefully over the dragonslayer's shoulder, praying that he hadn't saw what she thought he saw.

One look was all it took for her worst fears to be realized. There she stood, only a few yards away from the trio, interrogating an innocent shopkeeper for one reason or another. It was hard to tell with that girl.

"Erza." All three of them said in unison, an equal look of horror shared amongst them all.

Now, don't get them wrong, all three of them loved Erza, truly. An older sister figure, an amazing warrior, and an even better friend, she always pulled through when they needed her the most, and they all cherished her deeply.

But no one, _no one_ -save maybe Mira, and even she was iffy- wanted to be stuck in a mall with the infamous shopping prodigy _Erza Scarlett_. Not even Lucy, who prided herself on feminine wills such as shopping and trying on clothes and the like, could handle Erza in shopaholic mode.

And trust her, Lucy had tried. Once. When she was still rather new and the idea seamed like a wonderful bonding opportunity between the two. She hadn't understood when Natsu and Gray had stared at her in outright horror when she'd accepted the redhead's invitation out, and she had blown off their hushed warnings as them just being their normal boyish selves.

What she hadn't expected was being forced to try on damn near every outfit combination in the store, _at every single store_. Or end up playing packmule to the ever-growing mountain of shopping bags the redhead piled up, which trust her, _was a whole freaking lot of shopping bags_.

And she didn't even want to _think_ about what had happened when she'd told Erza she didn't want to buy the outfit she'd picked out of her. To say the least, she was convinced rather easily after Erza had taken certain.. measures. She still had the damn thing in the back of her closet somewhere. Seriously, what the heck was she supposed to do with a maid costume from a store called 'Sexy Sexy Erotica' anyways?

Lucy knew all three of them would be done for if they were spotted. They'd be stuck in Erza shopping hell and the blonde wouldn't get a single thing done the entire day, which would result in shopping trip 2.0, which she wasn't so sure Natsu could handle without crying.

The blonde quickly shifted the grasp Natsu had on her wrist so that she had a grip on his hand instead. The dragonslayer sent her a swift look of panicked confusion before Lucy gave a quick tug to his calloused hand, pointing off toward the right.

"Come on!" She hissed as she gave another tug on their conjoined hands, "If we don't get out of here fast she's going to spot us." Damn all complicated feelings to hell, if Lucy had to hold Natsu's hand to get them out of the shopping she-demon's line of sight then she damn well would.

The dragonslayer didn't need to be told twice, he let Lucy nimbly guide him through the roaring crowd of people until they were a relatively safe distance away from their guild mate. They were on the edge of the crowd, standing outside some dusky looking shop with deep crimson red curtains serving as a doorway.

Lucy heaved a lengthy sigh of relief, a quick scan of the crowd showing no signs that the redhead had spotted them. She felt Natsu let out a similar breath beside her, the death grip he'd had on her hand relaxing into a loose hold. Lucy felt her cheeks redden as she stared down at his rough, tan fingers laced easily around her pale ones, as if he didn't even realize he was still holding her hand.

_He probably doesn't._ She deadpanned to herself. Leave it to Natsu stay dense as ever while she had an internal panic attack.

"Uh, Natsu.." She began, just as the dragonslayer whipped his head towards her so fast she was sure he'd get whiplash. His eyes had widened again, like he'd just been hit with the realization of the century.

"Lucy." He stated, worry edging it's way into his tone, "Where's Happy?"

Lucy paled, their intertwined hands momentarily forgotten, "You don't think..?"

As if on cue a high pitched mewl of horror rang out in the crowd, and Natsu's keen hearing quickly zeroed in on the sound.

"Happy!" He picked up a terrifyingly familiar female voice amongst the crowd of people, and he could just picture the look of terror on the feline's face as he found himself confronted with the one and only Erza Scarlett.

"What are you doing here?" Erza continued, and Natsu assumed the redhead must have a death grip on the poor cat for him not to have flown away already.

"A-aye! Uh.."

"Are Natsu and Lucy with you too? Oh I'd love to meet up with them, I need some help picking out some new dresses you see."

"Aye… um, they're here but.." The little blue cat trailed off, not quite sure if he should condemn his friends to the same fate as himself.

"Erza's got him." Natsu relayed solemnly to the blonde beside him, head tilted toward the crowd as he strained to hone in on the voices of his friends.

"And…." Natsu paused to angle his head again, his mouth dropping open slightly in shock from whatever he'd just heard.

"What?" Lucy squeaked, easily reading the look on her best friend's face, "What's wrong?"

"Happy sold us out!" The dragonslayer shouted as he took another step back from the crowd, his gesture unknowingly pulling the celestial mage along with him.

"He did what?!" Lucy gawked at her partner, _Why that damn cat.. I'll cook him one of these days!_

"Erza said she'd buy him some fish if he told her where we were and now she's hot on our trail." Natsu clarified hastily, locks of pink hair ghosting this way and that as he shook his head softly. They where screwed. So, so screwed. How were they gonna get out of this one? The last thing he needed on a day like today was a whipping from Erza.

Lucy's grip on his hand suddenly tightened and he felt her tug him backwards. He stumbled a bit before turning back to look at her.

"Quick, in here. Before she sees us!" The blonde pointed towards the giant red curtains behind them, hoping the dark looking interior would deter their persecutors. Natsu quickly nodded in agreement and willingly trailed after the blonde. Anything was better then shopping with Erza, even this sketchy looking building.

The duo quickly slipped beyond the 'doorway' just as the familiar scents of his teammates hit Natsu's nose. He could tell Lucy was about to say something and quickly clamped his free hand over the blonde's mouth. She shot him a startled look, brown doe eyes widening as he quickly shook his head in the universal sign for_ not a good idea, Luce._

"I know I saw them go in this direction…" Came a high pitched tone, muffled slightly from the thick curtain between them. The duo froze in place, hardly daring to breathe as footsteps echoed around them, a shadow peaking out from the tiny gap left between the curtain and the floor.

"Well, I suppose it can't be helped." Another voice, this one feminine, sounded outside, and Lucy prayed to every god she could think of that the redhead wouldn't have some epiphany to fling open the curtain to reveal her in Natsu in a rather… compromising position, she noticed.

"You'll have to do, come, Happy, let us shop!" The duo heard the obvious mewls of protest and the hard clanking of armor echoing away from them, and they let out a harmonious sigh of relief, Lucy's muffled by the presence of Natsu's hand.

_Come to think of it.. _The blonde smirked devilishly against the warmth of Natsu's palm, still firmly clamped around her lips. _What was it that happened last time we were in a situation like this?_ The blonde thought ironically to herself. _Oh yeah._

"Ouch!" Came the yelp of pain from the boy beside her, who instantly whipped his hand away from her mouth.

Lucy grinned in victory and even stuck her tongue out for good measure, her honey brown eyes sparkling in amusement.

"You bit me!" the dragonslayer pouted as he inspected his hand carefully, noticing the twin light red curves on his ring finger. Not like it had _really_ hurt all that bad, but still, she'd _bit_ him. Seriously. Only Lucy.

The blonde giggled at his childish reaction, " 'That's what you get for cutting me off' -was it?" She parroted the dragonslayer's words from that day in her apartment, her soft laughter slowly becoming louder as she noticed her teammate join in.

"Yeah but I didn't _bite_ you, weirdo!"

"Huh. I guess you're right. Oops?"

"Don't 'oops' me, I have _bitemarks_, Lucy! Bitemarks!"

Lucy felt herself shake with laughter alongside her partner, who's teasing grin didn't go unnoticed by the blonde.

That day in her apartment already felt like forever ago, even though in reality it had hardly been 24 hours. It felt like a lot had happened, and she supposed a lot had. Falling in love was so weird. And it hurt, -more then it should, she realized- that this is as far as it would ever go. Her falling and falling deeper and deeper before she finally crashed somewhere at the bottom.

And then what? What would happen to her then? It's not like she could lean on Natsu like she usually did, not when he was the root of the problem.

_What a fine mess I've gotten myself into…_

"Ya two here for a couple's reading?"

Someone suddenly spoke from behind them, nearly scaring the two teens out of their skin as they spun to face the owner of the voice.

A tiny looking older lady stared up at the duo, soft dark eyes gazing curiously at the pair of teens that had been standing just inside her shop for the past ten minutes or so. She was dressed in deep purple robes that she had folded over herself to look more like a dress. Every one of her long thin fingers were covered in some sort of ring or other shiny looking bauble, and long golden earrings trailed down from her earlobes. She wore several layered necklaces, the first coiling just around the base of her neck and the last sweeping against her lower ribcage. Natsu's eyes instantly snapped to a medium sized pendent that look like a dragon holding some sort of pearl.

Lucy was the first to speak, her cheeks aflame with embarrassment.

"A c-couple? Us? No no uh.."

At this point the lady's words had finally sunk in for Natsu and he joined in with his teammate's incoherent sputtering.

"Oh uh, no we're-"

"We're just-"

"Friends." The two finally finished together, eyes anywhere but each other.

A twinge of amusement danced in the old lady's dark eyes. So that's what it was like, eh?

"Ah, forgive me. I jus' assumed because of yer hands that ya were.. well, together."

Instantly both teens snapped their heads downward at their hands, which, much to their horror, were still _very much being held_ and _very much intwined together_.

The two sprang apart so fast it was a miracle neither of them broke any of the glass trinkets that lined the hall. Never before had they been so glad to be in a very _dark_ room, for fear that the other would notice the nice shade of red dusting their cheekbones.

"Er, that was-" Lucy sputtered, all possible excuses flying right out the window as the older lady let loose a hearty laugh, her dark eyes wrinkling together as her small frame shook.

"Kids are a piece 'o work these days, eh?" She flashed the two teens a toothy smile and extended her small, thin hands outwards.

"Come, let Madame Luna read 'ya palms, it'll be good fer 'ya." The fortune teller grinned as Lucy and Natsu exchanged hesitant glances. They knew had to get going or they'd run out of time, but on the other hand, there was still a chance Erza was nearby…

"How much?" Lucy decided, turning to ruffle through her purse for her wallet. No way was she chancing another run-in with Erza, not after all they'd done to avoid her up until now.

Madame Luna waved a hand in dismissal, a quick shake of her head causing her long golden earrings to cling softly against one of her metallic necklaces, "Nay, fer the youngsters, no cost."

The blonde scowled, tone persistent, "Well we have to give you something, this is your job after all."

The fortuneteller twisted her jewelry covered hand in a nonchalant manor, dark eyes sparkling with mischief. The young ones were always the most fun, so full of life and dreams and love,"Hmm, then you let me do the couple's reading ya?"

The older lady watched in amusement as the two teens reduced back to their earlier sputtering, cheeks lightly dusted in embarrassment.

"We already told you-"

"We're not-"

"It's not-"

"We-"

"We're just friends." The two once again finished in unison, an exasperated look in their eyes. Lucy felt her heart hammer against her chest as she noticed the twinkle in the old lady's deep brown eyes, _She's doing that on purpose, dangit! Why do old ladies have to be so good at reading people!?_

"Oh of course of course, just friends ya? But you still do the couple's reading, it's much more fun for this old lady!" Madame Luna pointed a skinny finger at herself and Natsu could have swore she winked at him. He blinked in surprise, but sure enough, the old lady was _definitely_ grinning right at him. Suddenly Natsu thought that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Uh, Luce-" He started, at the same time Lucy had said,

"Fine, we'll do it."

Madame Luna clapped her hands in glee, which made an interesting clanking sound as all her rings bumped against one another.

"Yes! Good, follow me, ya?" The older woman beckoned as she turned and vanished behind a rustling curtain of bright-colored beads.

Lucy glanced at the boy next to her, who in turn caught her eye with a nervous stare. Lucy cocked an eyebrow, _What's the problem?_

Natsu glanced at the direction the older lady had disappeared and then instantly at the doorway, _We should bolt._

Lucy scowled at the boy, what did he have against going to a fortuneteller? She shook her head and reached out to grab his wrist, "No, come one." She voiced as she began to tug him in the direction of the fortuneteller's room.

Natsu looked like he was about to protest, but a backwards glance from Lucy left the words caught in his throat. They were doing this, wether he wanted to or not. He sighed.

_Why do I have a bad feeling about this…_

—

"Now, you, missy, sit ova there." Madame Luna pointed a slim flinger to the far side of the room, which was covered in pillows of ever shape and size just like the rest of the confined space. In the middle of the tiny room was a low table, barely an inch or two off the ground, on which sat a bowl of incense, a deck of cards, a few candles, and a few other miscellaneous fourtune-y looking baubles.

Natsu instantly sneezed as soon as he entered the room. He rubbed his nose absently as he watched Lucy pick around the pillows to the side of the room she was instructed to.

"Strong stuff you've got there." The dragonslayer sniffed loudly, eye twitching as he barley held back a second sneeze.

Madame Luna grinned up at the dragonslayer, who's sensitive nose continued to twitch irritatedly at the strong fragrance that filled the room. It wasn't a particularly bad smell, he noted, just really, well, _potent_.

"Ah, 's called_ 'Dragonflower's Night',_ even sensitive noses like yers get used to it wit' time." The fortune teller moved away from the fire mage to sit beside Lucy at the small wooden table. As she sat she beckoned the dragonslayer toward her.

"Come here boy, sit sit." She waved a jeweled hand at the seat next to hers and across from Lucy.

He should have bolted then, he would later realize. He could have dealt with the consequences later- be it becoming Erza's packmule for the day or suffering Lucy's wrath the whole ride home- everything in him said he should have hightailed it out of there right then and there. And he almost did. He seriously almost made a break for it.

But he didn't, of course. Because Lucy was sitting right there looking all expectant and kind of excited and he knew she secretly loved this sort of stuff and _dammit he was already sitting down wasn't he._

"Good good!, Now we all 'ere!" Madame Luna swayed happily while Natsu tried to figure out when exactly he'd moved from the entrance to the table on the floor.

The first thing the old fortuneteller did was blow out every candle on the table but one, it's low flickering flame now the only light against the darkness of the compact room. It's pale glow illuminated the outlined faces of the two mages, sharp shadows dancing across the angles of their cheekbones.

Lucy found herself staring right at Natsu, who was in turn staring at the single flickering flame between them. She watched as the flame danced hypnotically in the reflection of his eyes, their deep onyx color bringing a sort of feral intensity to the bright orange and yellows of the firelight.

Without warning the dragonslayer's eyes suddenly flicked up and caught her own, and she quickly averted her gaze downward, embarrassed to be caught so obviously staring.

With a snap of her fingers Madame Luna brought the teens' attention to herself. She was now holding a stack of thick, almost wooden looking cards in her palm, the backs of which faced the duo.

The fortune teller brought her gaze to Lucy's, her dark eyes sparkling with something unreadable to the blonde. The older lady extended the cards facedown towards her, "Chose one, dear, but no peekin' ya?"

Hesitantly, Lucy eyed the cards in concentration, as if the right choice would suddenly make itself distinguishable from the others. But no such event occurred, and each card reflected the same pale candlelight as the other. The blonde reached out and grabbed the one on the far end, setting it face down on the table in front of her. When she was done, the lady extended her hand towards Natsu, encouraging him to do the same.

Without much thought on the matter, the dragonslayer plucked one straight from the middle, setting it nonchalantly down on the table across from Lucy's.

"Again." Came the accented voice of Madam Luna beside them, angling the cards back to Lucy.

Once more, the celestial mage carefully pulled one of the thick wooden cards from the deck, setting it carefully on the table next to the other. Once she was done, Natsu did the same.

"Now, flip 'em over." The older lady instructed, gesturing to the cards facedown on the table. Carefully, the two teens flipped their cards over, one right after the other.

"I've never seen Tarot cards like these before." Lucy blinked, confused my the images laid out before her.

"That's 'cause they ain't Tarot cards, dearie." The fortuneteller answered distractedly, her attention focused on the cards face up on the table. Finally, the old lady straightened herself out and plucked one of Lucy's cards out from under her, inspecting it closely.

"Dragon, hn?" She spoke to no one in particular as she twisted the slim object between her fingers. Sure enough, the card depicted a great swooping dragon, painted carefully against the light blues and whites of the sky at dawn. It's great ruby colored body was facing forward, wings extended to either side like it was about to fly right out of the card and straight into reality.

Lucy tried to keep her pulse out of her throat as she fidgeted slightly. A dragon. How ironic.

"What does it mean?" She questioned as the old lady's attention shifted from the card in hand to the blonde. A toothy grin broke out against her thin lips.

"Well well, we take a look at yer friend's card first ya?" She avoided the blonde's question as she slipped the card back beside Lucy's other, bringing Natsu's first card to into her hands instead.

Just like she had the other, the fortuneteller turned the thin card in her hand, absorbing every detail of it with great interest. This confused Lucy, however. Weren't theses her cards to begin with? By the way she studied them so carefully, you'd think she'd never seen them before.

"The Sky. Ya have excellent taste, boy." The old fortuneteller mused, sending a knowing glance back at the dragonslayer. Natsu shifted uncomfortably on his pillow. He didn't like where this was going, and he especially didn't like that look of _I know all of yer deepest secrets, boy _that this Madame Luna person kept shooting him. It was all he could do to pray she wouldn't let those secrets slip into conversation with a _certain someone_ present.

Never one to focus on a problem too long, he found his gaze stuck on the card Madame Luna was flashing back at him. He had to admit, even to him, who never found much interest in such trivial things, the card was quite beautiful. It was the sky, just as the fortuneteller had announced, but it wasn't just one solid shade of blue, either.

The colors shifted, from the top, which depicted the light turquoise of a mid-afternoon sky, downwards as the colors faded into yellows, oranges, reds, purples, and eventually the deep dusky navy color of night, pale splashes of light resembling stars nestled amongst the black. He liked the night part best, he thought. It was also the section that took up the most space on the card, with dozens of star-like dots ranging from large to hardly present misted against the darker shades of sky.

"So?" The dragonslayer questioned anxiously, "What's so great about that?"

"Hush boy." The old lady sent him a swift look as she set his card down, just as she had Lucy's, and returned her attention to the other two undiscussed cards. Smoothly she reached out a hand to either side and pushed the cards to the center of the table so they sat next to one another.

The old lady seamed to ponder them for a moment, a thin, lean hand settling under her chin as she tapped a ring-clad finger against the side of her lip. With her other hand she reached out to touch the surface of either card lightly, closing her darkened eyes as she hummed absently.

"For the girl, the Torch. Fair choice, good, good. Stands fer realization, starting of journey, an increase in probability, an' the ability to see what others do not." The old woman cracked open an eye to study the blonde as she spoke.

"Yet, fire is a creature of it's own, ya? A strong fire built with time and dedication is passion, intensity, power. Someone who will light the way when hope is lost."

Lucy felt her breath hitch in her throat at the obviously purposeful use of _someone_ not _something_. Of course, in the mind of Lucy Heartfilia, there was only one person who embodied the word _fire_ so perfectly it was terrifying. His very existence was the incarnation of flames and all things that burn. And _woah_, shocker, _he was sitting across from her._

_Great, not only does this whole being-in-love-with-my-best-friend thing interfere with my daily life, it interferes with my Tarot card reading too._

The fortuneteller blinked open her other eye and snapped her full attention to the blonde, who flinched slightly at the sudden intensity in the old lady's dark hazel eyes.

"Fire can be difficult to tame an' understand, an' it's flames can often burn where they had intended to warm. Caution an' extreme endurance in patience are needed to be able to set apart the intention from the result. Yet, there ain't no better companion in the dark then that of fire, and no better warmth in the cold. See pas' the knowledge that it can burn ya' and trust that it won't."

Lucy felt her throat dry as Madame Luna's knowing gaze shifted slowly from the blonde to the pink haired boy on the other side of the table, his arms folded skeptically across his chest and dark eyes narrowed in suspicion.

_Don't say anything you're not supposed to, lady._

The fortuneteller's eyes crinkled upwards as she grinned wryly at the pinkeye without a care in the universe.

_Wouldn't dream of it, boy._

"For the boy, the Star." Madame Luna's eyes searched the dragonslayer's, her deep almond eyes making sure each and every word hit home as she spoke.

"The embodiment of light an' ethereality, the most common meaning of Star is the idea of an unattainable goal. Yet, they also can represent the needin' of guidance or advice, or possible change in direction or ideals, ya? Stars give light even when the moon cannot, an' are often connected to a trusted constant in one's life." Natsu broke the older woman's gaze in favor of staring at the picture of the sky in front of him, carefully taking in each individual star painted amongst the inky black section of the card. The older fortuneteller grinned smugly at the boy as she continued.

"Stars, very tricky an' fickle things an' can sometimes misunderstand good intentions. 'S important to clearly state yer desires as it very possible that they will be interpreted wrong. However, stars are also very smart beings, and will occasionally come to the correct conclusion on their own. It not be wise to rely on this though, as it may not resolve as many problems as it creates."

Madame Luna turned her gaze from the dragonslayer and let her eyes rest on the two cards in the center of the table instead.

"But together.. they are very interesting, no?" She blinked, not making eye contact with either teen beside her.

"Torch and Star.. similar yet different at the same time, ya? Both burning with passion an' strength and unwavering determination. Both bright and lighthearted an' so full of the energy. Very distinct too, though. Creatures of different worlds, ya might say. While each it's own, both made of the same element in the end. The same foundations, no? 'S very important."

Something glinted in the old lady's expression and Natsu narrowed his onyx eyes in suspicion.

_Where is she going with this?_

"All 'n all, two very compatible cards, a good sign for two people in love-"

"-OK LUCY TIME TO GO!" Natsu suddenly rocketed out of his seat, eyes wide as he stalked around the table and latched a hand around his partner's wrist, effectively yanking her up to stand beside him.

"Hey, Natsu! What's the big idea!?" The blonde protested hotly, a pout pressed on her fine pale lips as she glared at the teenager beside her. As much as she hated to admit it, was it that bad to want to know how compatible you were be with the guy you were in love with? Huh?! All her nonexistent chances to hell, she wanted to know, dammit!

Madame Luna cleared her throat for attention and snapped her lean fingers sharply, causing the cards on the table to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Lucy and Natsu, their glaring momentarily forgotten, stared at the table in awe.

Natsu turned his eyes to the older woman in shock, "What the hell?! You're a mage? I thought you where a fortune teller!"

Madame Luna clicked her tongue in protest, a thin finger waving in the boy's direction, "Stupid boy, they are one in the same, no?"

The pinkette practically growled at the older woman and Lucy had to place her free hand on his chest to keep him from getting right in her face, "Hey, who you calln' stupid?!"

Lucy sighed. So much for her relaxing fortune reading with Natsu, of course something like this would happen, what else did she expect, really?

"Well, I guess that's the end of that for us…" Lucy gave her partner a shove towards the exit, braking his staring match with the older woman, who was smiling coyly at the duo as Natsu began to drag the blonde in a b-line for the exit.

The blonde threw an exhausted smile back towards the old fortune teller an gave an apologetic wave, "Thank you so much Madame Luna! We'll be sure to come see you again!"

The older lady gave the blonde a toothy grin while Natsu mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Treacherous old hag, I ain't never comin' back here.'

Lucy glared and knocked her partner on the back of the head with her free hand, to which Natsu whipped his head back in protest before being cut off by the blonde, "Thank the fortune teller you idiot! She did this for free!"

Natsu scoffed, "I ain't thankin' that woman for nothing! She almost-"

"I said. _Thank the fortune teller_." Lucy growled and Natsu instantly clamped his mouth shut. Damn, she was mad. That was never good.

The dragonslayer let out a huff of defeat and glanced back at the fortuneteller, who was still smiling that damn,_ I know something you don't_ smile. Lucy gave a rather loud cough and nodded her head in the older lady's direction.

"Fine. Thanks for the reading old lady. Now come on Luce we've still gotta find Happy and get the hell out of here!"

Lucy gave one final wave of her hand as Natsu hauled her out of the reading room and back out into the busy shopping district streets.

It wouldn't be until much, much later that Lucy would realize her purse felt a little heavy then usual, or that Natsu realized he had something in his pocket.

But for now, the old lady in the fortune telling shop on the side of the street laughed. She laughed until she had to bring a shaky hand to wipe the tears of mirth out of her dark, twinkling eyes.

"Ah I knew it! The young 'uns in love are always the most interesting." She picked up the cards that the two teens hadn't chosen from her deck, their blank white, unpainted faces staring back at her as if in agreement.

They'd probably never know, those kids. Magic cards are quite simple things, really. One touch from the recipient and the cards paint themselves to match the deepest, purest feelings within. A Dragon, The Sky, and a Star. The brightest of Fires, who would have thought?

"Silly children, don't ya know the cards are never wrong?"

* * *

**Wow I really hope that chapter wasn't as boring as I think it is. The next one will be more interesting, I hope (out of nowhere festivals and awkward situations, anyone?)**

**And now for my favorite part of posting a chapter :D**

**REVIEWS**

**Rapunzel3:** Eeeeee it always makes me so happy to see someone enjoying all the little fluff bunnies in the story! I'm so glad you're liking it so far and I hope to see you around! ^^

**rinwright: **Well well well, I do wonder! No spoilers yet, but we'll see! ;)

**bluerainst0rm:** Mira is most definitely the embodiment of fangirls nationwide. I adore the bajebers out of her! I'm sure she's not done messing with our lovely resident idiot couple yet, we'll have to see what's in store for the voice of the fangirls! ;)

**Nouchali:** Yay! I'm so glad you think so xD I'm so happy to see you enjoying the story! (*heart eyes*)

**PhantomPierce-Okamoto:** Ahaha I'm so glad you liked the brick thing, honestly I cracked myself up writing that. (I'm so lame laughing at my own writing) And I'm so happy you liked the ending as well! I really liked it too xD

**Melody233:** Haha I think so too xD I'm sooooo gald that you're liking the story so far and I hope you enjoyed this chap just as much as the last! :D

**MiriFlower27:** I simply adore the relationship between Natsu and Lucy, I'm glad you like it too! I'll try and keep updates quickish, but I seam rather bad at that honestly ;v;

**Gh0st's buddy:** Eeee thank you so much for the kind compliments! I'm so so so happy that you like the story as well as my writing style! I really appreciate it! :D

**gwb620:** Haha I'm so glad you think so! Happy is just a little fluff ball of trouble, and his ability to be the least dense out of the trio is going to get him places, and hopefully others too! :)

**WhiteWinterStar:** Yay! I'm so happy you liked the whole dense-not-dense thing, I've personally always thought Natsu wasn't as dense as he let on (I mean, he grew up around all those perverts in Fairy Tail, they had to have taught him something!) So I just had to include that little tidbit in there. x3

**RoseAndRavens:** Yes! I'm so happy you think so! It's sooo hard to try and capture all the Fairy Tail character's personalities (mostly Natsu's) because they seam to change a lot depending on the situation. So it makes me happy that you say that :D

**whimsicalMedely:** AHHH YAY I'M SO HAPPY YOU LIKE IT AHHH! YOU ARE VERY VERY WELCOME, THANKS FOR READING THIS! :D

**Thank you so so so sooooo much for all your reviews! They mean everything to me, and I get so so happy to see a new review! Thanks again everyone for being super awesome!**

**Til next time!**

**~Ria**


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